Police help guards make safe deposit at Bothwell bank

Oct 1 2009 by Gary Fanning, Hamilton Advertiser

SECURITY guards are receiving police escorts to deliver cash to a bank in a bid to stop armed robberies.

Officers tailed a cash delivery to the Bank of Scotland last Thursday at 9pm.

Police stood and watched the money being unloaded from the van to the bank in Bothwell’s Main Street

They were shadowing the truck to make sure that it wasn’t ambushed by armed thugs.

Security men have been held at gunpoint and robbed outside this bank and another branch in Uddingston three times in a six-month period.

l On March 3, this year, masked robbers made off with more than £100,000 from an Uddingston branch of the bank after threatening two security guards with a gun while they were carrying cash deliveries to the bank.

l On December 18, last year, a thug carrying a firearm stole a five-figure sum after knocking a security man to the ground outside the Bothwell branch.

l On October 14, 2008, a masked man and his accomplice made off with thousands of pounds after robbing two security men delivering cash to the Bothwell bank.

Motorists said the police escort brought traffic in the main stret to a standstill.

One driver said: “It was unusual as the security van was sitting in the middle of the road.

“All the traffic had to drive around it and it was causing huge hold ups.

“There were policemen helping the security men deliver to the banks.”

A Strathclyde Police spokeswoman said: “I can confirm that we offered assistance to the company to deliver cash to the bank.

“We only do this when resources allow.

“Some of the security guards have been left shaken by some of the robberies and we give them support and assistance.

“Some of the security guards have been left traumatised.

“We only offer an escort when resources allow for it.

“Officers assisted and supported security vans over Christmas and this year when there was a spate of armed robberies on banks.”