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Lodge complaint to save High Street banking service in Badenoch and Strathspey
Well it’s only been a couple of weeks since the Bank of Scotland in Aviemore closed and true to their decision.
But it looks like the Lloyds Group are about to close a further 60 of their local banks, in an effort to save money.
Here in Aviemore it has been an exciting couple of weeks as the tourists return in force.
When the Bank of Scotland closed we lost two ATMs, a night safe and face to face banking services.
You would think that if they had planned these closures then they would have hopefully put something in place to service these losses and the needs of the public.
But no.
The ATMs have been offline due to technical problems and they have run out of cash more that a few times.
The supporting business have had to restrict Cash Back and the pressure on the local Post Office is quite frankly impossible.
So remember to buy some fudge.
It seems that the banks and I mean all of them are on the road to pressuring the public to go online and cashless and here in the Highlands we know that this simply cannot be done.
The internet services can be too slow and unstable – – that’s when you actually have a signal.
Then we have the tourists and no surprise more and more are returning to using cash as this is the best way of ensuring you don’t overspend. So, what to do?
I have tried to put the case for the provision of a Banking Hub in Aviemore and guess what, I got the standard letter, that basically says no one cares or is listening.
That being said, I have enclosed the link to the complaints page for “LINK” www.link.co.uk/help/banking-hubs-help/access-to-cash-complaint-form/
Click on it and then select [email protected] , or you can go direct using that email address.
Please help answer this SOS – Save our Service.
Mark Duncan
Aviemore.
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Corporate ‘re- wilders’ making major blunders in the Cairngorms
Since retiring after 40 years in the international oil industry and being able to concentrate on my lifelong interest in Highland farming and crofting, I have had more time to look at and consider our future.
Our only family have bred Highland Ponies and Highland Cattle for 150 years here in Badenoch.
We are being more and more guided by government Net Zero aspirations to be delivered by 2030 and beyond. Rather than digging our heels in and fighting this in agriculture we should be educating ourselves and following guidance for how the powers that be want us to go.
We are still waiting for detailed guidance in Scotland but evidence of this ‘direction’ has been seen in Irish, Welsh and European future agricultural policy. Most of it is aimed at increased carbon sequestration and reduction in emissions.
We should be grasping this as an opportunity for our sector and we all know we can seriously deliver for nature and the climate, although I am not saying we can save the world alone.
There are a lot of people that are not hands on in the rural sector, and it is important that we all join together and try and influence the direction of travel in a practical way that includes us all.
I know some people get concerned about my use of words including ‘indigenous’, ‘native’ and ‘local’ but that is who we are. Surely we cannot be the only country in the world that does not have an indigenous population ?
But in my defence I am willing to accept someone as “indigenous” if they accept and practice the culture and practices of the area they have come in to and not tried to change it – so we are ‘inclusive’.
Currently we are seeing some really big mistakes made by ‘them’ – the corporate rewilders – even very local to here, at Muckrach, Kinrara and Far Ralia.
In their haste to get investor onboard and to cash in on ‘natural assets / capital’ by beeing seen to be helping to save the planet – mostly by ‘greenwashing’ means, the people and the place and our livlihoods are being ignored.
Any serious investor will only commit if they can see a ‘gold standard of ethical practice’ and that includes protecting the indigenous people – the same thing would be the first thing asked before investment in the Amazon or Alaska, so why not the Highlands of Scotland?
I look forward to hearing others’ thoughts. What we all need to do is get round a big table and find outcomes that work for all sides.
We can achieve a lot for nature and our fine country together.
Ruaridh Ormiston
Kingussie.
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Rail improvements are long overdue in region
There wasn’t a train service North to Inverness on Saturday.
The train that broke down between Blair Atholl and Dalwhinnie on Friday night was difficult to move.
At Glasgow we were told by a Scotrail customer advisor that Scotrail wasn’t taking responsibility for passengers problems because the stricken train was carrying freight so was nothing to do with them.
Folk including my wife and myself eventually managed to get by Citylink to Aviemore and from there back to Kingussie.
That was fortunate for us and for a number of tourists as most of the buses south from Aviemore don’t serve the communities of Badenoch.
A fellow passenger declared the day “a nightmare”- a bit of an exaggeration considering the severe and chronic problems of so many at home and abroad not least those driven by climate change.
Congratulations to Mr Graham Leadbitter on becoming an MP.
For what it’s worth he got my vote for some recognition of the climate crisis and maybe even more for the stream of literature from the Conservative who suggested voting tactically to scupper the SNP even though the strongest urge throughout the UK seemed to be to vote tactically whichever way removed aTory.
Could Mr Leadbitter help sort out the trains?
If rail transport and public transport more generally could be improved then there’s a chance that we would be less reliant on cars and so reduce emissions.
As far as I understand it we in Scotland own Scotrail at least through an arms length organisation of the Scottish Government.
So that’s our MSPs’ responsibility not that of our MP.
Improvement please, Ms Deputy First Minister.
The actual trains aren’t owned by the likes of Scotrail but ultimately by insurance companies like Allianz, foreign energy corporations like EDF and international pension funds.
How do any of our representatives get improvements there when the bottom line is seemingly the only concern?
Railtrack, the company that looks after the track and stations is beholden to the UK Government so maybe there Mr Leadbitter could have more success in cooperation with Westminster colleagues.
Discontent with politicians must have a lot to do with their inability to bring about improvements in services.
Apart from the complexity of the organisations needing to improve, there is the question of what level of Government can effect change.
MPs,MSPs, Highland councillors, the Cairngorms National Park Authority,despite all their honest efforts don’t actually seem to improve services like transport.
Hopefully Mr Leadbitter and his SNP colleagues will find a way to work with Labour to get stuff done.
If discontent is allowed to fester it might not be long before we see an even worse government than the thankfully expelled Conservative administration .
Dick Webster
Kingussie.
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Loss of decent people at Westminster
Yes indeed, I have had time to reflect on that disappointing election result.
While I remain a Liberal socialist, like many others, I joined the SNP 20 years ago to win independence.
With still a 50/50 divide on independence, evidently many YES supporters returned to Labour to dispel the Tories; which at the same time has nearly destroyed the SNP.
Whether they return to the SNP will depend not only on how UK Labour performs but also how the SNP perform after losing a host of good people like Joanna Cherry, Drew Henry and Tommy Shephard.
In truth the SNP may have been in power too long in Holyrood without securing their core objective of independence.
From a high of 56 MPs in 2015 to nine is almost unforgivable and must reflect on the leadership cleek over the last few years.
Also the excessive time spent on gender issues and other low priority policies must be part of the cause effect. Finally and sadly all this maybe down to the fact that the Scots are just not ready to take responsibility for their own affairs and to lead this ancient well endowed nation, which has given so much to the world, back to independence and progress.
It does take courage and confidence to build a better life and it may be true that the best of Scots leave, to do just that.
Grant Frazer
Newtonmore.
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Voter apathy concerns
When the dust has settled, let us remember that 40 per cent of the electorate does not care who governs the UK.
That is what we really have to worry about.
Malcolm Parkin
Kinross.
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Is this the best bus service we can do?
As a member of the Cairngorms National Park Authority board I like to see what service is offered to the public and holiday makers.
Having left a lorry in Newtownore, I thought I would be smart and refuse a lift home, deciding to return to Nethybridge by means of our local bus service.
My seven-year-old bus pass came out of my wallet for the fourth time in its life.
I found the bus shelter at the Co-op of very poor quality. It was raining heavily and a lady stood with her umbrella, assuring me that the bus – a Number 39 – would be along “in 10 minutes” and she had a dental appointment in Aviemore.
The bus came down the street and we walked to the side of the pavement, only to see it just keep going. It never stopped.
I phoned the bus company to complain, but there was no answer.
The lady set of to get a lift and I was lucky that somebody picked me up and got me to Aviemore, where I waited for the Nethy bus.
Is this the best we can offer the public? A second-rate service?
They talk about 20-minute communities but we are 40 years out of date. There was a time you could buy anything in the strath, from a Morris Marina to shoes. Now you can’t even get a bus.
Many of us are at an age where we can’t just get on our bike and our trains and buses don’t meet up so we rely on our private cars still.
But is that really the best the strath has to offer?
John Kirk
Nethy Bridge.
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Net zero information
I was intereted to read the letter ‘Rural RTS Advice’ in last week’s paper from Gillian Martin – perhaps a circular to a number of papers, as she didn’t offer any indication of locality?
She is of course correct that the radio signal that controls a wide range of electrical meters and tariffs is due to be switched off at the end of June 2025 on the assumption that everyone should by then have smart meters.
However her letter is quite misleading when she suggests that solutions should be sought via public advice providers, helpful as they can be on other matters and personal finances.
This is at root a matter of the UK government’s focus on net zero targets requriing households to install technology that doesn’t exist, or pay a penalty.
The RTS switch off has now been scheduled and postponed from year to year at least twice, because it simply hasn’t been possible to provide sufficient working smart meters to customers. Our last MP, Drew Hendry, had been following this up for some time with the Westminster Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. Just before the election was called he also had discussions with the power supplier Ovo, who took over SSE’s accounts. I’d like to thank Drew for the attention he gave to this when he was our MP – hopefully his succesor will take up the issue.
My own case has a particular complexity. When our home was built in the 1980s, it was built as all-electric with a Scottish Hydro Board system, the so-called ’Total Heating Total Control’ method with two separate wiring systems run not by one but by two meters, one for heating, turned on by radio at times during the day and night, and the other – much more expensive – always on for everything else.
I believe the TCHC system was and I suppose still is quite common throughout the former Hydro Board area, but it was, I think, unique in the UK. Its advantage is that it keeps homes consistently warm through the day – which we, being retired, appreciate.
During March this year, Drew asked the following Parliamentary question: ‘To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions her Department has had with Ofgem on alternative energy meter arrangements for households reliant on Radio Teleswitch.’
plied: ‘In their recent open letter, the Office for Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) set a clear expectation that energy suppliers must replace Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) meters in a timely and efficient manner, before the RTS is switched off (now confirmed by EnergyUK as the end of June 2025.
Households should contact their energy supplier to arrange their upgrades, so they can continue to benefit from multi rate tariffs. The Department will continue to engage with Ofgem and industry on this matter.’
Unfortunately no smart meter has yet been invented to cope with the TCHC two-meter set up. Drew Hendry’s last report to us on this, dated 29 May 2024, included a summary from Ovo that concluded ‘OVO is still working on solutions for credit and prepay customers on THTC and RTS meters.’ There is no ‘upgrade’ available for our meters and tariff.
Unless the policy is changed – or an appropriate tech solution is found, and new meters both constructed and installed by next June (what hopes of that!) – I and everyone else on TCHC tariffs will default in 12 months to standard charges with no discounts for night time or economy tariffs.
And no, I can’t change my tariff in advance. Ovo have refused my request to take out our two TCHC meters and install a new single smart one. On the other hand, no other supplier can remove the meters that belong to Ovo.
In September 2023 the Herald reported this as ‘Thousands of Scots households are under threat from higher energy prices amounting to hundreds of pounds a year in the cost of living crisis because of the switch off of a BBC radio service and a failure to meet targets for the roll out of smart meters. Concerns surround the 250,000 electricity teleswitch meters fitted across Scotland.’
This isn’t just a TCHC issue.
The switch off will impact any single meter tariff supplying night time discounted power via the RTS system. As things are, if you can’t get a working smart meter by next June, you too will default to the single standard tariff.
I have just written to the new minister for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, to ask if the new government will look again at the anomaly this UK-wide policy is likely to produce, an anomaly whose cost might be born by households across the Highlands. Perhaps your readers might also like to pester our new elected representatives?
Frank D Bardgett
Boat of Garten.
