Has the saying “banks give you an umbrella when the sun is shining but as soon as it starts to rain they take it away” ever been more poignant than now as we witness yet another bank closure, this time Barclays in Crook.

As with my bank (Yorkshire) in Bishop Auckland and many others, I used to usually have to wait around 20 minutes now I have to drive to Darlington and wait circa thirty.

It’s called moving with the times they didn’t say going back in time.

We see adverts about the bank’s that care blah blah blah and to be quite honest they do care, they care immensely about how much money they make.

Banks are a business and I’m afraid don’t care about you the majority of the staff or community they are supposedly serving, like these supermarkets where you serve yourself they want you to do their job but still pay them for the privilege.

Good business if you can get it and they can and do and we stand Sammy, I don’t know if everyone is aware that if your bank went bust which can and does happen they are only liable for the first £85,000 of your dosh.

So say you’ve worked hard all of your life built a nice nest egg up anything over that amount is not covered so my advice to anyone who has lots of dosh in a bank especially in these uncertain times is if you want something buy it, enjoy it, cherish it while you can because one things for certain - those greedy with power and the profits made from your hoard of greenbacks will not be eating mutton washed down with a bottle of Co-op plonk but dining on fillet steak washed down with copious amount of Crystal.

I know from experience through the years when I was a young man starting out.

Yes, we need them but without us they don’t have a business and I’m a great believer in hard work pays dividends and its time our banks worked for their money instead of taxing us for the privilege.

John Cumberland, Rushyford.