When 84-year-old Maggie Dodd discovered that the last remaining bank in Lochgilphead was closing, she began to panic. 'I mean I couldn't sleep that first night when I realised. I thought what am I going to do?' Maggie has been a customer at the Bank of Scotland in Lochgilphead since 1976. Now her nearest branch is in Oban, almost an hour's drive – 37.2 miles – away, and she's worried about banking online. 'I'm frightened,' she says. 'There's so much of this scamming business, and I'm always worried that I'll hit something and press the wrong thing.'
That's why she has 'buddied up' with her 83-year-old friend Ina Callander to try banking at the local post office. 'I've been using the post office for years,' Ina says. 'Maggie was really upset and I thought, why not help her? Because that's what friends are for.' The buddy scheme was set up by Karen McCurry, who runs the wellbeing centre Snowdrop Argyll. 'I had people approaching me, telling me they weren't sleeping at night because the bank was going to close – and that's massive,' she says. 'We always try to think of solutions and how to make things easier for somebody. We can't change what's happening outside a lot of the time, but we can help somebody feel a bit better about it, a bit more confident.'
“84-year-old Maggie Dodd panics as last bank in Lochgilphead closes, forcing her to rely on a friend and post office.”
Lloyds Banking Group, which owns the Bank of Scotland, say the branch at Lochgilphead is no longer viable as most of their customers prefer to bank online. But BBC Your Voice was approached by residents in the town who are worried about the impact the closure will have on elderly and vulnerable people, as well as local businesses. Adriano Pia, who runs the Argyll Café, says banks are needed because bank cards and cash machines aren't always reliable. 'Even today we had two people whose cards aren't working,' he says. 'I've had times where I've had to tell people just to take it, so they don't go hungry because they're stuck.'
A few doors along at the Community Shop, manager Scott McBride is worried about the impact the closure will have on the charity's insurance if they are not able to deposit their takings at the bank every day. 'We either extend our insurance, and that comes at a cost, which ultimately comes with a risk as well, because we're then potentially holding more cash on-site,' he says.
Lochgilphead isn't the only place in Scotland affected by bank closures. Figures from the consumer watchdog Which? reveal 742 bank branches have closed across the country since 2015. The Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency has seen the most closures, with 30 banks shut.