Bank bows to customers

By JEFF PRESTRIDGE, MONEY EDITOR AT LARGE
Updated:

 

Residents and businesses are celebrating the scrapping of a test scheme to replace bank branch staff with machines.

Lloyds TSB axed the trial after a forceful campaign by customers of the branch at Theale on the outskirts of Reading, Berkshire.

Local Labour MP Martin Salter was among protesters who pressured the bank to reinstate staff at Theale as well as at branches in nearby Caversham and Tilehurst.

The automated branch project was due to run until the end of the year and, if successful, would have been a blueprint for the nationwide replacement of manned branches with automated ones.

Lloyds TSB's move has delighted businesswoman Sarah Spiller, who was instrumental in organising the campaign against the plan to 'dehumanise' some of its Reading branches.

Sarah, whose corporate Dawn Entertainments business banks at Theale, says temporary automation of the branch caused her serious problems.

She says: 'I was unable to obtain foreign currency or transfer money between business accounts. The bank acted without thought for its customers. Banks must never forget that branches are integral to communities such as Theale.'

Salter says the U-turn by Lloyds TSB is an important victory for pressure groups such as those representing small businesses and the disabled. They have been alarmed at the automation of many branches or, even worse, quickfire branch closures.

About 600 communities countrywide are now without bank branches.

But Salter is not prepared to rest on his laurels. He is pleased that Lloyds TSB has seen sense in Reading and he hopes to form an all-party parliamentary group in the Commons to examine the role of bank branches in local communities.

He says the committee would look at options such as shared branches where customers of all banks could use one outlet.

Derek French of the Campaign for Community Banking Services, who joined the celebrations in Theale, says the government must make sure that local views are taken into account when banks consider shutting branches.

He says: 'Such a requirement could be incorporated into the Financial Services and Markets Bill presently before Parliament.'

French, supported by a long-running Financial Mail campaign against bank branch closures, has already helped secure the agreement of the major banks to an independent review of branch closures and alternatives to traditional High Street branches.

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