A bank has been criticised for refusing to accept a cheque written in Cornish.

Agan Tavas, an organisation which promotes the Cornish language, said it ‘was astounded’ when their treasurer reported that a Cornwall branch of Lloyds Bank was refusing to accept cheques written in Cornish.

Secretary of Agan Tavas, Ray Chubb, said staff had refused to budge on the issue even after it was explained to them that Cornish had been included under the Council of Europe Charter for Regional and Minority Languages since 2002 and the Cornish, as a people, were protected under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities since 2014.

Mr Tavas explained that other banks in Cornwall will accept cheques written in Cornish and Lloyds Bank has accepted them in the past.

He added:  ‘Companies like First Kernow and Kellys Ice Cream actively promote Cornish because they see economic advantage in doing so, at the same time it seems that Lloyds Bank is going backwards. The foundation of Lloyds Bank was the Welsh cattle droving trade and, apparently, cheques can be accepted in Welsh and Scottish Gaelic so why not another recognised British language?’