And finally…you’re gonna need a bigger boat - “pointless” mobile bank clogging vital ferry link

Castlebay RBS was one of 10 branches given a reprieve until the end of the year in the bank’s controversial round of closures, but RBS started sending a mobile bank every week anyway.

RBS boss Ross McEwan said this month that he remains open to the plan to save the 10 branches, if they meet the criteria of an independent review carried out between June and August.

But residents say the mobile bank currently being sent is not needed while they still have a branch and are furious because the RBS vehicle is taking up valuable space on the island’s ferry.

Up to four of the 20 car spaces on the MV Loch Alain which plies the Barra-Eriskay route are being taken out during each of the three-times-a-week return visits by the bank van, a local hotelier has said.

Isles MP Angus Brendan MacNeil is writing to RBS following the trialling of its mobile service, which locals claim is not being used and he claims is taking up vital space on the Sound of Barra ferry.

Angus MacNeil MP, who lives on Barra, claimed the “large and cumbersome” RBS van was “needlessly” taking up valuable space.

He said: “Clearly our ferries are very busy owing to the success of RET and the efforts that have been made to attract people to the islands.

“However, we need every inch of deck space on the ferries. RBS needlessly sending a van to Barra is using up valuable deck space, inevitably people will be left behind because of RBS’s ill-conceived closure plans, which is bad for our island economy. What would be helpful would be to keep the Castlebay branch open and Lochboisdale open. Instead of this RBS are giving us a sub-standard service and also clogging our ferries which are our arteries of commerce.”