A BLIND councillor has told how the loss of a bank with a talking cash machine on her local high street affected her life.

Labour's Jenny Molineux was speaking in a Hyndburn Borough Full Council debate about the loss of banking services in small towns.

She said the closure of the Lloyds branch in Great Harwood meant she could no longer withdraw cash from the 'hole-in-the wall' or discuss her finances with an assistant without a bus journey to Blackburn or Accrington.

St Andrews Cllr Sara Britcliffe, also the borough's MP, backed the Labour motion expressing alarm at at the closure of bank branches in Great Harwood, Clayton-le-Moors and Rishton and its impact on elderly residents. She promised to lobby ministers.

The motion was approved and now chief executive David Welsby will write to the government asking it to 'address the issue of residents not being able to access banking services without travelling to a different town’.