ASHBURTON has been left reeling after the last bank in town announced it’s making a final withdrawal.

Lloyds Bank in East Street is quitting the commercial scene in November, leaving the town without a single bank.

NatWest caused ruptions a year ago when it packed up and departed, with Lloyds left as the last man standing.

But the sole survivors confirmed the town’s worst fears last week by revealing they too would be shutting up shop.

Town mayor and town council chairman John Nutley admitted on Monday: ‘It’s extremely sad news. Everyone in the town is very upset. I don’t think Lloyds are thinking about local businesses, the elderly and the rest of their customers.’

One loyal customer – on Lloyds books for 56 years - was less polite.

Angry Sue Townsend from Landscove complained: ‘I think the local staff behind the counters are fantastic – but the higher-ups couldn’t give a monkey’s about their customers.’

She revealed how she confronted one of the bank’s ‘suits’ who told her she could use a computer and mobile phone instead to conduct her financial affairs.

‘That doesn’t help me. I don’t have a computer and don’t trust using a phone to do my banking. When I told him that he said I could use the Post Office instead,’ said Sue, who was not impressed with Lloyds’ explanation that the November 7 shutdown was prompted by a 17 per cent drop in branch footfall custom and an increase in online trade.

Cllr Nutley, revealing how one 90-year-old woman was advised to bank online by the closing branch, thundered: ‘If this is the kind of advice being given to elderly people, Lloyds needs to have a better understanding about elderly people’s capabilities when it comes to computer technology.’

He is demanding an ‘open’ meeting with senior Lloyds staff to discuss the looming closure as a matter of some urgency, hopefully some time later this month.

He said: ‘From past promises by the bank not to close the Ashburton branch, they have not exactly been transparent with information to their customers.’

Cllr Nutley revealed townspeople would be left with just two cash dispensers once Lloyds vanished off the scene – one during opening hours at the Spar and the other a 24-hours external machine at the post office.

In a letter to the bank’s public affairs manager, Matthew Harris, Cllr Nutley asked why Ashburton should fall on the sword when smaller South Brent survived.

‘There are far more businesses in Ashburton and a larger community. I feel this has been poorly managed by Lloyds with no consideration whatsoever to how this will affect the businesses and residents of Ashburton,’ he argued.

He is persisting with his demand for an open meeting so Lloyds can explain the reasons for their departure.

In a letter to town councillors, the bank explained: ‘The majority of customers now regularly use alternative branches or use other ways to bank such as online and telephone banking to complete their banking needs.

‘Customers will have their accounts realigned to Newton Abbot around 6.52 miles away, and there will be no other impact to the way they manage their accounts.  We will be writing to customers to give them all the information they need.

‘We realise that our customers value the branch experience alongside online, digital and phone, and the decision to close any branch is not one that we have taken lightly. Our decisions are based on customer demand or locations where we have duplicated branches. We have also taken into consideration the impact of the closure on the community, current shopping patterns and where leases are due to expire or offer a break clause.’

He added: ‘During our review process we have also taken into consideration the location of local post offices and the availability of public transport. In the majority of cases there are frequent services and a local post office within walking distance. Personal banking customers can use their local post office to check their balance, withdraw cash and make deposits to their account. The closest is St Lawrence Lane which is 0 miles away.

‘In line with our commitments under the British Bankers’ Association’s  access to banking protocol, we are writing to affected  customers, and our local directors will be engaging with businesses and the wider community to make sure they are aware of the alternative ways of accessing their banking in the local area.

‘Our branch staff have been informed about this announcement, and we do not expect these changes to result in any compulsory job losses.

‘We aim to redeploy everyone currently working at the branch to alternative Lloyds Bank branches. However, we expect there to be a small number of role reductions as a result of these changes and we will look to achieve this by offering voluntary redundancy in some locations. We cannot confirm the numbers at this stage as we need to conduct meetings with impacted colleagues first.’

Lloyds said with the continued ‘acceleration of customers using online and mobile channels for simple transactions’ the Ashburton action was part of 400 proposed closures by the end of 2017.

Cllr Don Distin said he was not surprised the footfall had dropped.

‘That’s what happens when you reduce the opening hours as they did a few months ago to 10am-3pm. That’s no good for the business community,’ he observed.

The closure was also causing considerable upset to many elderly people in and around the town.

‘They are very worried by it all. They tell me they don’t know what they will do now,’ he said.

He revealed that many of them had joined up with Lloyds when NatWest left town, a customer-boosting switch which perhaps had not been included in the bank’s statistics.