PLANS to close a bank in Glasgow's East End have sparked fury.

MSP John Mason has slammed the decision, which will mean just one branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is left in his constituency to serve 70,000 people.

The London Road branch of RBS in Bridgeton shut yester-day and RBS confirmed the Shettleston Road branch will close on June 20.

It said customer demand had fallen sharply at the branch during the last 12 months..

The nearest bank for Shettleston residents will be in Parkhead, around one-and-a-half miles away.

Shettleston MSP Mr Mason said the decision was "totally unaccept-able" and demanded that RBS bosses rethink the closure.

He said: "Anyone who has been in the Shettles-ton branch will know just how busy it is.

"I have often had to stand in a queue there waiting to be served."

Mr Mason said he had requested a meeting with RBS decision makers to ask them to justify the decision.

He added: "A key point is what consult-ation have RBS carried out with local customers who did, after all, bail out the banks.

"Internet access is also lower in our area than in more affluent parts so that makes it doubly hard for people to lose a key branch. RBS must think again."

A spokeswoman from RBS said: "A full branch service is available in Parkhead, which is less than one-and-a-half miles away. We also have a range of other options that our customers can use to access their accounts.

"These include our RBS mobile phone applications, online and telephone banking services and the use of any Post Office to pay bills, withdraw cash and check balances."

matty.sutton@ eveningtimes.co.uk