Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Protests as RBS Perth city centre closes

Unite union and Labour campaigners protested against the RBS closure.
Unite union and Labour campaigners protested against the RBS closure.

RBS customers vowed to take their cash elsewhere as they made their final visit to the Perth city centre branch which closed its doors on Wednesday.

Streams of people visited the South Street bank, passing a protest being mounted outside.

A queue of customers had formed on the street before RBS opened for the day but many of them said they plan to close their accounts as the backlash against the decision to shut branches across Perth and Kinross continued.

They were joined by protesters from Unite and Labour who criticised bank bosses for failing to listen to warnings about the impact of closing branches across Scotland.

The flagship RBS in Dunkeld Road is to remain open but is difficult to access on public transport and is not within walking distance of the city centre.

Long-standing customer Susan White said she plans to move to Bank of Scotland, which still has a branch in the city centre.

“This bank has been so important to the people of Perth but RBS hasn’t considered the impact it will have,” she said.

“I have heart problems so I can’t walk all the way up to Dunkeld Road. They are discriminating against people who are elderly or have mobility problems.

“It’s a busy bank so I can’t understand why they are closing it. I’m leaving RBS and I won’t be the only one. They are in for a big shock.”

Last year RBS announced 62 branch closures across Scotland but 10 were then given a stay of execution until the end of the year, to allow a review to take place. The bank has cited an increase in online banking usage for the closures and insisted mobile banks will visit affected areas.

In Perth and Kinross banks in Aberfeldy, Kinross and Pitlochry have already closed, with Comrie currently under review.

Trisha Duncan, chairwoman of Perth and Kinross Labour, also plans to leave RBS, saying she feels betrayed after taxpayers bailed the bank out in 2008.

She said: “This is going to have a massive impact on Perth, you only need to look at the queues before the bank even opened to see how well used it is. Concerned is not a strong enough word for how I feel.

“I have banked with RBS for 45 years but not anymore. Our tax went into keeping them afloat and we have had nothing in return.”

Five employees of the South Street RBS are thought to have been paid off, while another 10 have lost jobs due to cuts at Dunkeld Road.

Leading the protest was Mary Alexander, deputy Scotland secretary for Unite.

She said: “We know the branch is closing but we have campaigned against this for a long time and we want to make our voices heard.

“RBS bosses haven’t thought about the loss this will be to Perth and they have a duty to pay attention to the devastation they are causing.”