Elderly residents in a remote community are having to travel two hours on a bus to draw their state pension after their cash machine lifeline broke down.

 

Locals in Dalavich in Argyll and Bute have been catching a bus along the mainly single track route to the nearest village of Taynuilt to draw their cash since before Christmas.

The round trip can take almost two hours.

Marilyn Henderson, communications secretary of Avich and Kilchrenan Community Council, said: "There are three women that I am aware of that draw their pensions there. One is blind and deaf, one is on crutches and the other one can hardly walk, they are really missing the local post office."

Peggy MacIntyre, 88, added: "It was about Christmas when the machine went wrong.

"We go once a week, although there was one Thursday that we couldn''t get there because of the weather."

Local MP Alan Reid has now stepped in to demand the machine be repaired.

The Post Office said engineers have had difficulty rectifying the fault and the ATM's repair is a priority.