SIR — I am not surprised that the banks are in such dire straits, especially after having read what was attached to the door of one branch in Harpenden last Friday. In spidery handwriting, the message was: Sorry the bank is closed today due to bad weathe

SIR - I am not surprised that the banks are in such dire straits, especially after having read what was attached to the door of one branch in Harpenden last Friday. In spidery handwriting, the message was: "Sorry the bank is closed today due to bad weather we appologise (sic) for the inconvinence (sic)."

Apart from the complete lack of punctuation, there are two glaring spelling mistakes.

I would not expect this from an international business, 70 per cent owned by the UK Government.

BOB MOORE,

Oakwood Drive, St Albans.