Letter: If you want a savings account, save up first

Sir: Many many years ago, when I was young, my frugal Scottish parents persuaded me to open a Post Office Savings Account in the vain hope that I might acquire the thrifty habits for which my country is justly famed.

I think my first deposit was five shillings (25p in today's money) and I have held such an account ever since. When our children were young, I found that it came in handy when our funds ran low on the last day or two of our annual holiday.

I confess I have used it but little in recent years, but when I got a cheque for pounds 1.60p I decided to pay it into my Post Office book. I was astonished to be told that they could not accept a deposit of less than pounds 10. In vain I pleaded that the recipient of a cheque has no control over its value; I still met with a firm refusal.

The walls of the Post Office were positively plastered with appeals urging the citizens to save but none of them mentioned that sums of less than pounds 10 would be rejected.

To an old man it seems odd that nowadays, when the traditional Saturday penny is reputed to be pounds 2, even a month's pocket money would not be enough to deposit in the Post Office Savings Bank.

If our children don't save, who can blame them?

Yours faithfully,

GRAHAM DON

London, E3

20 April