A MOBILE banking van making its first visit to Dunbar since the closure of its Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) branch broke down and did not make it to the town.

The High Street branch of RBS closed for the last time on Thursday, May 31.

Customers in Dunbar and the surrounding villages now have the alternative of a mobile banking service, which will visit the town twice a week for a total of 105 minutes.

The service, which is provided in a van which stops off at various places across the county, including Dunbar’s Bleachingfield Centre, was due to visit Dunbar for the first time last Saturday (June 2).

However, the van broke down en route to the Countess Road venue.

Jacquie Bell, secretary of the town’s community council, said it was “not a good start”. She was also unhappy about the manner in which the closure had been handled.

She said: “When you go to the branch, a poster just tells you to phone an 0345 number or to look at the website. There is no information about when the mobile service is coming.”

A new poster will be put in the window in the coming days highlighting the timetable for the new service.

Branch closures were announced at the end of last year, with North Berwick’s RBS also to close on June 25.

Those closures come on the heels of the RBS in Prestonpans shutting, as well as the TSB in Tranent and the Bank of Scotland in Gullane.

The mobile service visits Dunbar on Thursday from 9.30am to 10.30am and Saturday from 11.10am to 11.55am.

Martin Whitfield, East Lothian MP, said: “This latest failure is symbolic of the way RBS is letting down its customers and local communities.

“What happened on Saturday hardly inspires confidence in RBS’s commitment to East Lothian.”

Iain Gray MSP added: “RBS had already made a hash of the mobile banking service by reducing the service in a number of villages and now has failed to even appear in Dunbar.

“To fall at the first hurdle like this is simply not good enough.”

A spokesman for RBS confirmed the mobile banking van broke down, with Dunbar the only stop affected.