SCOTS have been warned they could be left facing an ‘uphill battle’ to access their cash following an ‘alarming’ number of bank and cash machine closures.

Banks have been closing right across Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire at a concerning rate over the last few years, with towns such as Barrhead, Giffnock, Renfrew and Johnstone all losing branches in recent years.

Only last month, Santander announced it was to close its branch in Renfrew’s High Street later this year, after the town lost its Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) branch in Canal Street last year. 

Renfrew also lost its Clydesdale branch in Hairst Street in 2017, while the Johnstone and Bridge of Weir branches suffered the same fate.

RBS shut up shop in Barrhead back in 2016, the Bank of Scotland branch in Giffnock’s Fenwick Road closed at the start of last year, and Clarkston lost its Santander branch in 2018.

Research by the consumer organisation Which? found 339 bank branches in Scotland have closed their doors since 2015 - making the country one of the worst affected parts of the UK.

In addition, 290 cash machines have been withdrawn in the last year, of which more than two-thirds were free to use.

Which? is now calling on the UK Government to appoint a regulator to protect access to cash.

Jenni Allen, managing director of Which? Money, said: “We have serious concerns that the alarming rate of cashpoint and bank branch closures risks leaving people in Scotland facing an uphill battle to access the cash they rely on.”

While consumers are increasingly using contactless technology, Ms Allen argued cash was still a “vital backup as fallible digital payments grow in popularity”.

In Scotland, withdrawals from cash machines were down just 3.3 per cent in 2017/18 compared to larger drops of 8.5 per cent and 7.7 per cent in London and the south east of England respectively.

Ms Allen said: “The UK Government must appoint a regulator to oversee these changes and ensure no-one is excluded and left struggling to go about their daily lives.”