As part of my ongoing campaign to see banking facilities returned to Swanley, this week I visited the town’s Post Office to meet with longstanding staff member Ruth and Postmaster Jigna Suthakaran to see how their excellent new dedicated banking counter is supporting local residents.
At the counter customers can; check their balance, withdraw cash, pay in cash, pay in cheques and pay bills. And I was very impressed with the new Teller Cash Recycling machine (TCR) which can count 5 notes per second, and is vastly improving customer experience – especially for SME businesses.
While I am so grateful to the Post Office and all the staff for providing this facility, it of course does not replace the need for a banking hub locally – especially in light of further bank closures in Sidcup.
In the next few weeks, my team and Swanley Town Council are meeting with Link to explore further how we can continue to push for a banking hub to be opened and I will of course keep you updated with any developments.
In the meanwhile, I encourage all local residents to make use of the banking facility within the Post Office. The more demand shown for face to face banking, the more powerful our case will be for change.
