Trader urging customers to tell RBS its time is up

A Selkirk watch specialist says he has no time for concerns over parking problems affecting the Royal Bank of Scotland's service to customers in the town.
Colin Graham stands outside the former RBS building in Selkirk.Colin Graham stands outside the former RBS building in Selkirk.
Colin Graham stands outside the former RBS building in Selkirk.

Last week, we reported how inconsiderate motorists are parking illegally in loading and disabled bays in the town centre and how that’s stopped an RBS mobile banking unit getting to Market Place for half-hour visits onMondays.

As a result, the unit has had to move on two recent occasions to alternative locations further up the High Street – leaving some Souters in the dark about its whereabouts.

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RBS announced the closure in December last year of six Borders branches, including its outlet in Selkirk High Street. It shut in May, but in a bid to compensate, a mobile banking unit was drafted in.

However, one town trader who feels little sympathy for the bank and its parking problems is Colin Graham, who runs Colin’s Watches in Sentryknowe.

He accused the bank of abandoning the town and called on its customers to switch loyalty instead to the Bank of Scotland because it is the only bank left in Selkirk.

Mr Graham argues that the RBS does not deserve to have preferential parking.

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He said: “I fail to understand why we should have concern for a multi-million pound international business which chose to abandon Selkirk.

“If the need is so desperate, why do we not reserve the parking area in front of the old Royal Bank? Oh yes, of course, they do not want us to be reminded what they did or that they made their bed and now need to lie in it.

“The question for me is why should one business have preferential treatment by having a reserved space in the parking area.

“Does that mean that I also will have reserved space when I need to take consignments from my business to the post office or collect watch repairs from my agent?

“The best solution to this problem, other than pandering to a business which has no interest in Selkirk, is to encourage RBS patrons to support the only bank in Selkirk – the Bank of Scotland.”