A HIGH street bank has been lambasted by a Barnsley man who is fighting an incurable muscle wasting disease - for its attitude towards the disabled.

Ian Pratt has motor neurone disease, which causes weakness and wasting of muscles.

His body is wasting away, he has lost more than five stones in weight and needs an electric wheelchair to get out of his Monk Bretton home.

So when he arrived at the RBS branch in Barnsley town centre earlier this week he was faced with an insurmountable problem.

There are three steps that have to be mounted to get into the bank and there is no ramp.

A small sign does say that people requiring assistance can ring the bell - but that bell has been removed.

Ian, 44, finally had to resort to asking a stranger if they would pay a cheque into his bank account for him.

Even when that stranger told staff inside the bank on Church Street of Ian's predicament- no-one from the bank went outside to offer him any assistance.

In Text Promo Image

To rub salt into the wounds when Ian got home and phoned the RBS customer services line to ask why there was not an operational bell outside the bank, he was advised he should go to the RBS branch in Sheffield 16 miles away.

Ian, from Newhill Road, said: "I'm very angry and extremely frustrated by this. If there is a legitimate legal reason why there cannot be a ramp to enable wheelchair access at the very least there should be a bell we could ring.

"I thought the staff might at least have come outside when they were told I was stuck out here, but they didn't and the response I got from the customer services line, quite frankly, I found condescending."

A spokesman for RBS said: "It's unacceptable that Mr Pratt could not access our branch to conduct his banking in person and we have apologised to him for the inconvenience and frustration caused.

"The call-bell has been repaired and we will ensure it is checked regularly."