BANK customers in Aberaeron have reacted with fury on discovering that NatWest’s mobile bank has slashed its hours of business to just 45 minutes a week.

The van replaced the town’s long-established branch of NatWest when it closed in the summer of 2015.

Other banks have followed suit with Barclays now the sole remaining bank in Aberaeron.

County councillor Elizabeth Evans said it was the second reduction in hours since the mobile bank had been established in the Regent Street car park.

“This is such an important facility for local businesses and local people that it’s nonsensical to keep reducing the times – there is always a queue when it’s there on Monday mornings,” she told the Cambrian News.

“Just when we thought things had started to settle down, we find ourselves again having to fight as a community to keep the most minimum of banking services in Aberaeron.

“It’s about time banks put their cards on the table and told rural communities whether they actually want to do business with us or not.”

A NatWest spokesman said: “In response to the changing ways our customers are banking we have reviewed the schedules of our mobile branches.

“This does also mean that in some communities we may have to spend less time, but we welcome feedback on how these services are running, and have already committed to reviewing these timetables on a monthly basis.”

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