BANK bosses are being called to account after slashing mobile banking hours in West Kilbride by almost half.

MP Patricia Gibson and charity Age Scotland have expressed outrage after RBS confirmed it was reducing the amount of time spent in the village by almost 50 per cent as of May 28.

It means local people will only have one and a half hours a week to do their banking.

MP Ms Gibson said: “This is an appalling decision from RBS, not only have they reduced the service to customers across the country even further, they’ve done so by quietly changing the timetable as opposed to being straight with people.

“They ought to remember who saved the bank from going under just a decade ago.”

The current hours of the mobile bank are Monday 2-3pm, Thursday 2.20-3.05pm and Friday 1.55-3pm.

The new times will be Tuesday 11.30am to 12.30pm and Friday 11.15am to 11.45am.

The mobile bank was one of the concessions that RBS made when they closed the only premises in town at the end of October in 2015.

Ms Gibson added: “At a time when RBS is making promises about providing mobile banks in other towns, three more branches in North Ayrshire and Arran are earmarked for closure.

“Customers can see that RBS lacks commitment to maintaining the level of services customers need, which is completely unsatisfactory.

“I am extremely disappointed that the promises, made to the residents of West Kilbride when the last bank in town was closed, have been broken”.

Age Scotland have also criticised the decision.

Their spokesperson said: “We know older people will be most affected by reduced services, as most still prefer to do their banking face-to-face.

“Our research shows that 70 per cent of people aged over 65 never use online banking.

“Our members tell us they have security concerns with remote banking and miss the personal relationships with staff.

“Many find it traumatic having to change banks when their local branch closes.”

RBS say the changes come following a review of the mobile branches schedules.

A spokesperson said: “We have added more stops and many of these new stops will cover areas where, unfortunately, an existing branch will be closing, but also some communities where we haven’t had a branch before.

“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.”