Closing Haxby's branch of Barclays bank would 'flout national guidance'

Luke Charters, who will be standing for Labour in the York Outer constituency at the next election, worked for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for two-and-a-half years.

While there, he led part of the work on drawing up the FCA's 'Guidance on Branch & ATM closures' for banks.

Now he has written to FCA boss Richard Lloyd, calling on him to block Barclay's closure of its branch in Haxby 'pending further consideration of the impact on disabled customers'.

In his letter to Mr Lloyd, Mr Charters - who once lived in Haxby - says: "In my judgement, based on my regulatory experience, I believe that the Haxby Barclays closure may be breaching FCA guidance in terms of how the closure affects disabled customers."

Luke Charters

In an annexe to his letter, Mr Charters says the bank has suggested that customers can use Haxby Post Office for their banking.

The 'current configuration of the local Post Office (inside of a convenience store)' is not suitable for disabled access, he says.

"The counters in the convenience store are not suitable for access. The store’s aisles are not clear (and) the entrance is not wide enough and therefore inaccessible."

All this suggests that the bank has not 'not put due care' into considering disability access, he says.

"When the most profitable banks in this country shut their doors to disabled consumers, they deserve to be held

to the highest of standards," Mr Charters says in his letter.

"Based on the disproportionate impact on disabled users...I call on the Financial Conduct Authority to block the closure of the Haxby Barclays Branch pending further consideration of the impact on disabled customers."

In a statement to The Press today, Barclays insisted that 'as part of our early impact assessment when we consider a branch closure, one of the areas we review is the accessibility of the local Post Office'.

As reported in The Press, Barclays announced on July 1 that they would be closing the Haxby branch from October 5.

The bank says the number of number of people using the branch has fallen in the last two years, and that 88 per cent of the branch's customers now also use other banking methods, such as online and by telephone.

But hundreds of local people have signed a petition against the closure.

Gladys Hanson, 89, told The Press there was always a queue at the branch - and that the friendly staff there were her 'lifeline'.

She said many other elderly people in Haxby were in the same position.

Lib Dem Haxby ward councillor Andrew Hollyer, who helped organise the petition, has met with Barclays bosses to express his concern.

He told The Press: "We will continue to call on Barclays to reconsider this decision."