TRADERS in an Anglesey village have called on a bank to rethink its plans to close their branch.
Wendy Owen has started a petition to stop the closure of the HSBC branch in Valley.
“I feel that we have been treated as if we are nothing,” she said. “I and someone else have asked at the branch for a meeting, and are told they will pass it on to a higher authority, but we never hear from them.”
The branch will close for the last time on Friday, September 3. The nearest bank is four miles away in Holyhead.
“I will have to take an employee with me to Holyhead, because I don’t fancy walking through a car park with money, so that’s someone away from their work,” she said.
She added that elderly and disabled people and that they would have to walk further if forced to go to Holyhead.
Mrs Owen, who runs Valley Motors and undertakers DH Griffiths and Son, said that as a long term customer she felt she had been treated unfairly.
“I’ve banked with them since I was 15 ,” she said. “I remember my dad taking me there to open an account with me.”
Ceri Seeley, who owns Bocs Babi, was also angered by the planned closure.
"I'm considering closing my account on principal, as I opened my account with them because they had a branch in Valley," he said.
Anglesey MP Albert Owen said that the closing the branch, which is open for twelve hours a week, would be a backward step.
“The HSBC branch at Valley is as busy as ever and provides a valuable service to a large section of the community, including pensioners and businesses,” he said. “I have written to HSBC urging them to reconsider this decision.”
HSBC spokesman Mark Hemmingway said that online banking and the meant that the fact that many residents chose to bank where they worked, mostly in Holyhead, contributed to the closure.
“The two staff in the bank serve an average of 10 people per hour, and it’s usually in or out small amounts of cash or to pay a bill,” he said.
He said that the nearby cash machine at the Spa shop was also a factor.
Mr Hemmingway added that Mrs Williams anyone who wanted to arrange a meeting with the bank should speak to branch staff and that the message would be passed on to the relevant person.
“We are acutely aware that for some people this will be very inconvenient, but we are trying to work them to come up with alternatives,” he said.
Copies of the petition are available to sign at Valley Motors, DH Griffith and Sons, Bocs Babi and Moduron Maethlu in Llanfaethlu,