YP Letters: Dreading the closure of our local banks

From: Geoffrey North, Silverdale Avenue, Guiseley, Leeds.
RBS and other banks are under fire for the closure of local branches.RBS and other banks are under fire for the closure of local branches.
RBS and other banks are under fire for the closure of local branches.

LIKE many others, I am dismayed at the closure of the local branches of banks (Caroline Flint, The Yorkshire Post, February 17).

They justify their policies by pointing to the increasing use of internet banking. How I shudder at the prospect of internet criminals getting their hands on my accounts. I can hear the bankers saying that cannot happen. Well if hackers can exploit the computer systems of major businesses and government departments then I suspect that Aunt Nellie’s pot of gold won’t be much of a problem.

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And poor Aunt Nellie will have to take a bus ride to pay in her £25 premium bond winnings. But what about local businesses heaving with bags of cash and nowhere close by to deposit them? It seems to me that the banks have lost sight of providing a service for their customers in the rush to reduce operating costs. They are thinking of themselves rather than their customers to whom they owe their existence and a duty of care.

But is there a solution? The more enterprising businesses can convert problems into opportunities. Recognising that technology is changing the game, why don’t the banks get together and provide a communal service at the local level whereby Aunt Nellie and Uncle Tom Cobley can process their accounts in different banks in one place. Alternatively why not provide a communal service though local post offices or even supermarkets?

Fracking can’t be undone

From Sue Cuthbert, Newton on Rawcliffe.

WHILE I understand David Rhodes and his description of mining areas being restored (The Yorkshire Post, February 13), fracking sites can never be restored to what was there before.

Each site is about the size of two football pitches. For this industry to be viable, there will need to be hundreds of wells over large areas of land. There will also be hundreds of lorries on rural roads. Pollution from fracking is a serious risk. Aquifers, once polluted, can never be repaired. Mr Rhodes says that no area, or people, are entitled to immunity from developments such as fracking. The National Parks were created for the nation, to be protected from unsuitable development.

Turning back the tables

From: Canon Michael Storey, Healey Wood Road, Brighouse.

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I WAS amused and disappointed to read the small article on the matter of learning times tables (The Yorkshire Post, February 14).It seems that the Department for Education expects eight and nine-years-old children in England to “know their tables up to 12 off by heart”. I attended an infant school from 1941 to 1944. All infants, on leaving that school aged seven, knew their times tables up to 12. Having learned up to 12, we were encouraged to work out our 13 times tables. Shouldn’t education have progressed since 1944?

Who are the real heroes?

From: Mike Bytheway, Oakwood.

WE read about a 19-year-old school student Conrad Fish helping victims of a helicopter crash. The staff of the emergency services, and our Armed Forces, run the risk of losing their lives whilst carrying out their duties.

Meanwhile British Gas advertise their employees as local heroes. Which is the odd one out? Shame on British Gas for devaluing our language and denigrating past heroic deeds for their own monetary gain.

Fingerprinting the guilty is OK

From: Bob Watson, Baildon.

I AM sure that most law-abiding people will have been pleased to read that the police are bringing in a new device to enable on-the-spot fingerprint scanning.

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What then are we to make of the response from Nadeem Murtuja of JUST Yorkshire (The Yorkshire Post, February 14)?

It is worrying that they feel it necessary to immediately play the race card rather than seeing how the new system works in practice. The comments appear to be trying to stoke up issues that are not there.

Providing our pensions

From: Arthur Quarmby, Mill Moor Road, Meltham.

WHENEVER a company is in financial trouble, it seems that the directors’ early action is as often as not to raid the pension fund.

I would have thought that there would have been legislation in place preventing such dishonesty – dishonesty because the directors do not own the pension fund, even though a part of it consists of contributions from the company.

Should some protection be provided?

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From: Coun Tim Mickleburgh (Lab), Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.

THE extra 25p in pension for those aged 80 plus is, along with the £10 Christmas bonus, a relic of past Government decisions. More recently, Governments have introduced free bus passes, a winter fuel allowance and free TV licences (for those 75-plus), along with a “Triple Lock” so that the state pension goes up by whichever is more; inflation, wage rates or 2.5 per cent.

Thank you

From: David Jones, Oldham.

I READ the recent obituary of Hannah Hauxwell and the articles about her life. May I say it was sensitively and accurately written, informative and with exactly the appropriate tone. Thank you.