Moray MP Douglas Ross is set to engage with LINK over future banking services in Forres.
Douglas has accepted an invitation to meet with the company to look at how people will still be able to access banking services in the town, with Bank of Scotland set to close their branch in Forres in July.
That will mean there will no longer be a branch in the town, despite the population being close to 10,000.
The meeting comes after Douglas again raised his anger over the bank’s behaviour to UK Government Treasury Minister John Glen at a recent session of the Scottish Affairs Committee.
He highlighted the “tone-deaf” attitude of the banks upon the announcement of the closure, including how they behaved in a meeting with him shortly afterwards. He also told the Minister how the bank told customers that they could use the local TSB, seemingly unaware it was closing too.
The Treasury Minister said it was “very unfortunate” that Douglas hadn’t had the level of engagement to support the community in Forres.
Douglas now hopes that the meeting with LINK next week will show them the importance of retaining banking services in Forres in some shape or form, especially for elderly and vulnerable businesses as well as local businesses.
Moray MP Douglas Ross said: “I am pleased to secure this meeting with LINK. The attitude of Bank of Scotland towards closing their branch in Forres has been tone-deaf and a disgrace ever since they announced it.
“I wanted to make that known to Treasury Ministers at the committee meeting and to highlight the Bank of Scotland’s appalling lack of engagement with not only me as a local representative, but their loyal customers in Forres.
“Even when they have engaged, they have made basic errors and are seemingly completely unaware of the importance of banking services to a town and community the size of Forres.
“This meeting with LINK must now deliver a resolution to ensure people and businesses in Forres can have access to banking services on their doorstep. We’ve seen this elsewhere in Scotland and the United Kingdom. A community the size of Forres should not be abandoned by our big banks like this.
“Our elderly and vulnerable banking customers need to know there is some way they can carry out activities without being forced to use online or mobile banking.
“I will be making these points forcefully to LINK who I hope to work closely with in order to find a solution, if Bank of Scotland are hellbent on closing their branch in early July.”