TSB’s decision to axe its Helensburgh bank branch has been branded “completely unacceptable” by the area’s MSP.

Jackie Baillie denounced the move after it was revealed that the East Princes Street facility will close permanently in January.

The announcement may not have come as a huge surprise to customers after the branch’s opening hours were significantly cut last year, and it has now been listed among 73 TSB branches throughout Scotland which will shut in 2021.

The company, which will be making around 300 jobs redundant north of the border, blamed the decision on a change in customer behaviour, with a reduction in the number of people using branches and the subsequent growth in digital banking.

READ MORE: TSB to shut Helensburgh branch as bank confirms closure dates

However Ms Baillie said: “Now more than ever, local people need to be able to have easy access to their bank and it is vital that they feel supported during what is a very uncertain time for us all.

“By closing these branches TSB are making it clear that customer wellbeing and satisfaction is simply not a priority for them.”

“Banks are increasingly a law unto themselves – closing branches and removing ATMs from local areas making it harder to access cash. This must stop as it is having a detrimental effect on local people, businesses and our high streets.

“I will seek an urgent meeting with the TSB to try to get them to reconsider these closures.”

The TSB’s decision follows the closure of the Clydesdale Bank branch in James Street in 2015 and the town’s Santander branch on the corner of Sinclair Street and West Princes Street followed suit in April 2019.

READ MORE: Anger as Santander announces closure of Helensburgh branch

It will leave the Bank of Scotland and RBS as the only banks with a branch in Helensburgh after January.

TSB’s Alexandria branch will also close, in May 2021, following the branch in Dumbarton, which was shut in July.

After that, the next nearest TSB branch to Helensburgh will be in Clydebank.

Meanwhile, Helensburgh’s MP, Brendan O’Hara, has launched a petition urging the company to reconsider after it was announced that his Argyll and Bute constituency will lose five TSB branches.

The SNP representative said: “Businesses across Scotland have been hit hard by coronavirus and the banks are no exception.

“However, a face-to-face banking service in the local community is essential for my constituents – particularly at a time when many are already feeling isolated.

“In choosing to leave towns, companies like the TSB are only looking at the effects on their corporate balances and are completely ignoring the people who will be affected by these cuts – particularly their own, hardworking staff who are also valued members of our communities.

READ MORE: TSB cuts opening hours at Helensburgh bank branch

“Companies like the TSB, and RBS and Clydesdale Bank before them, need to understand the importance of their services, but also their presence, in these communities.

“In the last five years this constituency has lost 10 bank branches, three of them in Rothesay alone. Any decision to remove physical services and branches from Argyll and Bute will have a detrimental effect on the people who live in the area and use these services.

“More long term, any withdrawal from these communities will also add large, vacant premises to our high streets.

“In the aftermath of Covid and Brexit our high streets will need support to recover and thrive. Abandoning them now will not aid these recovery efforts.”

The petition can be viewed and signed here, has been supported by more than 200 people.

A TSB spokesperson said: “The decision to close the Helensburgh branch has not been taken lightly, but our customers are banking differently – with a marked shift to digital banking.

“We are enhancing our partnership with the Post Office giving customers the ability to deposit and withdraw cash using a card.

“The nearest Post Office to the branch is 0.2 miles away, additionally, the nearest cash machine is 0.1 miles away from the branch.”

Just 13 customers were said to have used the Helensburgh branch regularly, while the company spokesperson told the Advertiser that even prior to Covid-19, customers were choosing other ways to bank, with half using services at cash machines, and 20 per cent using a Post Office.

* Last week we wrongly reported that Helensburgh’s TSB was not facing closure - this was based on a list of branch closures which had not yet been updated. Apologies for the error.

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