People in Millport have been urged to use a new 'trial' banking service on Cumbrae - and have been warned that if they don't, the last face-to-face access to banking facilities on the island is likely to be lost.
The island's Bank of Scotland branch in Guildford Street closed its doors for the final time on Tuesday, February 20, while the associated ATM was also closed.
Bank of Scotland staff are now stationed in the Glass Room at Garrison House every Tuesday from 10am until 2pm as part of a trial arrangement to keep face-to-face banking on the island, albeit in a more limited form than before.
They are expected to be able to deal with fast payments, assist with account issues, and serve other basic needs for customers.
The new move was discussed at the latest meeting of Cumbrae Community Council, when chair Alex Harvie encouraged people to use the service before it was "deemed not wanted".
She said: "It would be really good for people who do use that bank would go in and use the service. If we don't use the service, then it will be deemed not wanted."
North Ayrshire councillor Todd Ferguson, who lives on the island, said he'd asked about the possibility of a mobile bank being brought to the island.
But in a fresh blow to the community, the Bank of Scotland says its mobile branch service will be withdrawn completely in two months' time.
Like the closure of the physical branch in Stuart Street, and others across the country, the Lloyds Banking Group, which owns Bank of Scotland, said the decision to scrap the mobile service was the result of "changing customer habits", with some mobile branch stops having just a tiny handful of customers.
READ MORE: Bank of Scotland branch in Millport shuts for the last time
In a statement, a Bank of Scotland spokesperson said: "We have taken the decision to withdraw our mobile branch service from May this year.
"This is due to changing ways people are choosing to do their banking. With over 21 million customers across the UK regularly using online banking, the number of people using our mobile branches has fallen by 90 per cent since 2018.
"Across Scotland, we have 2.4 million customers and on average just 14 customers use our mobile branches at each stop, with some locations having as few as two customers."
There was an outcry from politicians across the party divide when the Lloyds Banking Group announced last year that the Millport branch would be closing, but the company said keeping the branch open was "unsustainable" as it only had 25 regular customers.
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