THE elderly will feel the sharp end of the closure of Lochgelly's last bank, says Cowdenbeath MSP Annabelle Ewing.

The Bank Street operation of the Bank of Scotland will close at the end of February which means that within seven months of the TSB leaving town the BOS will have followed.

Ms Ewing has expressed her disappointment at the news that the Bank of Scotland is to close their branch in Lochgelly.

Speaking on Thursday, Ms Ewing said: “I was extremely disappointed to be informed by the Bank of Scotland that they have taken the decision to close their Lochgelly branch on February 27.

“I fully understand that there is pressure on branch banking across all the High Street Banks, but that very phrase is becoming meaningless as branches disappear from our towns and villages at an escalating rate.

“There is no doubt that the way in which many people do their banking with online and telephone banking becoming increasingly popular, is having a marked affect.

"However, it is the elderly and the disadvantaged who are the main users of branches and they are the very people who will find it hardest to either access these other forms of banking or to travel to the Cowdenbeath branch".

Ms Ewing added: “This decision will be hard, too, on the staff at the Lochgelly office.

"I want to hear assurances form the Bank of Scotland that there will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of this branch closure.

“One point of reassurance which I do want to get across to customers of the Lochgelly Branch of the Bank of Scotland is that their account numbers and sort codes will stay the same and there is nothing that they need to do to transfer their account to Cowdenbeath.”