Santander’s closure of its Helensburgh branch was raised in the Scottish Parliament this week.
Last month the company announced raft of closures across the UK, with the West Princes Street branch due to close its doors on April 25.
On Thursday during General Questions at Holyrood, Dumbarton constituency MSP Jackie Baillie raised the issue with Kate Forbes, Minister for Public Finance and Digital Economy.
She told Parliament that no consultation had taken place with stakeholders and local branch customers before the decision to close and echoed the worries of constituents who now need to travel into Glasgow city centre to visit a Santander branch.
““The Santander branch in Helensburgh is the latest victim in the epidemic that is Scottish bank branch closures,” she said afterwards.
“The fact that Santander deemed it satisfactory to close down their Helensburgh branch without consulting key stakeholders and long-standing members is completely unacceptable.
“My constituents, many of whom are elderly and have problems with mobility and transport, are now going to have to travel more than a 40-mile round trip just to speak to a Santander representative face to face.
“I called on the Scottish Government to meet with Santander to specifically discuss concerns relating to the closure of Santander bank branches given the disruption that it will cause, both in my constituency and across the country.”
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