BANKIES who rely on a meals on wheels service have been reassured it is not going to end after concerns it was under threat.

A letter sent to the Post by a volunteer said the Royal Voluntary Service’s (RVS) delivery of approximately 149 meals a week to 59 clients was to be scrapped in March 2018.

The anonymous volunteer claimed the organisation was in talks with West Dunbartonshire Council to remove the service, instead opting for a new programme in a bid to entice residents to leave their homes.

However, fears were raised this would be unacceptable to numerous housebound residents who would be left without the vital programme.

The letter said: “This service has been running for over forty years and is a vital service for our community and our clients, many who are housebound and vulnerable, rely on us coming into them with a hot meal a few times a week.

“The Royal Voluntary Service are in talks with local councils to stop this service as of March next year saying it not vital anymore and want to introduce new services to get the clients out of their homes.

“In hindsight this would be a fantastic idea but as I did mention before a lot of these clients are housebound and would not be able to come out of their home.”

It added: “There is no-one else except for expensive companies who supply frozen food for the clients to put in freezers and the cost is a lot more expensive.

“At least when we deliver the lunchtime meal we are also giving the client a check over and notifying our officer or relatives that not all is well.”

The service, which also delivers a weekly lunch club and caters to Alexandria, Clydebank and Dumbarton, was granted £20,816 in funding for West Dunbartonshire Council for the past two decades.

However, a council spokesman has reassured worried clients that bosses have no plans to swap the service.

He said: “There is no intention to transfer the provision of these services from RVS, who have provided services in the area for over 20 years.”

RVS insisted the well-being of its clients were its priority, however, they added no “final decision” had been made on whether the service would be removed.

Sarah Murray, Royal Voluntary Service operations manager for Dunbartonshire said: “The well-being of the older people we support is our priority and we are constantly reviewing our services to ensure their needs are being met, this includes our West Dunbartonshire Meals on Wheels service, but no final decisions have been made regarding any services at present.”