The closure of a Welsh town's last remaining bank will leave its older residents "ignored", it has been claimed. Caldicot is set to lose its Lloyds branch which has announced it will close for good next January.
The bank is closing due to falling use among locals in the past few years, with residents in Caldicot being diverted to the Post Office on Newport Road or to the Lloyds branch in Chepstow. It means the town will now be without a bank, although there is still a Monmouthshire Building Society on Newport Road.
A Lloyds spokesperson confirmed the closure, noting that 78% of its customers already used other ways of banking such as over the phone or internet banking as well as other branches. Customers are being contacted about the alternate services available, which include eight ATMs within four miles of the Lloyds branch.
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Kay Harris, an independent on Caldicot Town Council, said the closure would leave older members of the community less independent and "sidestepped."
"Caldicot is a town and I cannot comprehend how a town can be without a bank," she said. "It has one of the largest OAP populations in Monmouthshire and a lot of them don't do internet banking. So it feels as though they are being ignored and pushed to one side. It seems that nobody is bothered with them."
Ms Harris said many older people in the town who struggle with technology "don't stand a chance" and that the community was being forgotten. "They're making everybody pay with their card which a lot of OAPs don't know how to do. How do you get to Newport? How do you query your bills?
"Face-to-face services have fallen by the wayside. Even [with] doctors' surgeries in this area, it's hard to get a face-to-face appointment - you have to fill out a form before you can even see anybody. It seems as though if you're not very good at IT then you're ignored. Everybody is told to find a relative that can help them but it makes OAPs less independent."
A Lloyds Bank spokesperson said: “Visits to our Caldicot branch have fallen over recent years, as many customers now choose to bank in different ways. When the branch closes in January, customers can continue to bank in person with us at the Chepstow branch, or the local Post Office on Newport Road.”
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