Alexandria residents are being let down by poor bank services and repeated issues over a broken cash machine, according to a local MSP.

Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, says since the Royal Bank of Scotland closed its doors in the town in 2016, customers have been forced to travel four miles to the nearest branch or wait for the infrequent mobile branch services.

And Ms Baillie, who questioned RBS’s Simon Watson at a recent parliamentary meeting on the closure, says the problems have been heightened by the frequent repairs carried out on the cash machine that was left behind.

She said: “RBS has shut 70 per cent of branches across Scotland since 2010, leaving communities with no access to their bank.

“When RBS shut the branch in Alexandria, they promised customers that a mobile branch would be routed through the town but this took almost two years to come to fruition and stops just fortnightly.

“The cash machine in Alexandria plugs the gap in service in the area but the RBS can’t even ensure that this works year round. I have had a number of constituents contacting me to tell me that the cash machine is broken, again.

“I hope that the issues with the cash machine can be fixed permanently, and that the bank will consider a more regular mobile service so that customers can access their bank when they need to. Otherwise the promise from RBS to be the last bank in town is sounding pretty hollow.”

RBS has closed a number of other branches across Scotland recently, with more than 50 closing their doors permanently in the last year.

In response, an RBS spokesperson said: “The ATM in Alexandria was temporarily out of service whilst maintenance work was undertaken to upgrade the ATM, the work is now completed and the ATM is back working.”