A Lloyds Bank customer has expressed frustration after being forced to travel up to 75 miles to deposit a £900 HMRC cheque, following the bank's decision to end cheque services at Post Office branches.
Customer's Ordeal
Annabel Yates, a resident of Cornwall, received a £900 cheque from HMRC but was unable to deposit it online due to scanning issues. She then visited her local post office, only to discover that Lloyds had stopped allowing cheque deposits through the Post Office in January.
Ms Yates now faces a round trip of 75 miles (120km) to Okehampton or 94 miles (150km) to Truro to deposit the cheque. She told BBC News: "I think the bank's theory is everything could be done on an app and that's just not always the case. It's very backwards thinking."
Freepost Option Concerns
Although Lloyds offers a freepost cheque deposit service, Ms Yates said she was uneasy about sending such a large sum by post. "I did not want a cheque in the post for such a large amount of money when you are not sure it would actually reach its destination," she added.
She criticised the bank's shift in ethos: "Back in the day, Lloyds' ethos was to make banking easy. I think this is a reversal of that."
Post Office Reaction
Joanna Bickersteth, postmistress at Marshgate Post Office near Boscastle, said customers are "frustrated" by the rule change. She argued that ending the service reduced "the facilities available to customers by taking away the post office element."
She also noted that a new banking hub in Bude could not cash cheques because it was a Post Office facility.
Lloyds Bank Response
A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson said: "Customers can use our app to pay in cheques, visit any Lloyds, Halifax or Bank of Scotland branch, or get in touch with us about our freepost cheque deposit service."
