Banks To Pilot 'Edible Cheques' Scheme
by our special reporter Simon Hunt

A bank in North Wales has pioneered a new scheme to circulate edible cheque-books to its customers.

Catherine Hargreaves-Wolsey, Branch Manager of the Llangolyn Newshires Bank in Llangolyn, explains: "I had the idea when noticing how long our customers were taking to use up their cheque books. This, in turn, leads to the books getting lost and used fraudulently. I asked myself if it was possible to issue books with a built-in expiry date."

The new cheque-books, already dubbed "cheque cakes" by the local community, are made of rice paper with a sugar-frosted coating. The idea is that customers will be forced to use up their quota of cheques before they decompose. Local Businessman John Tyrell supports the scheme.

"It's good for local trade because people are prevented from being slack with their spending," he says. "Many would rather buy something than see good food go to waste, and since the bank demands proof that each cheque has been spent before issuing any more, people are forced to invest more in local businesses, like mine."

However, there have been opponents to the scheme, many of whom fear the risk of fraud.

"There are several expert bakers in the town, mainly old ladies," notes Detective Inspector Lorraine Bint, representing the Community Against Cheque Cakes (CACC) Action Group. "We've encountered several instances of pensioners baking their own cheques, and a steady icing hand means it's entirely feasible for somebody to forge one of the new style cheque signatures."

The requirement for each 'cheque cake' to be signed in pink icing is also seen as a hinderance to local residents, although Hargreaves-Wolsey is keen to point out that theft of biros at the bank has decreased by 100% since the scheme was put into place, although queues as customers struggle to use the newly installing cake-icing facilities have increased. Nevertheless, she firmly hopes that the scheme will eventually be adopted by major banks country-wide.

"People will soon learn to do it faster," she says. "And they'll find they've gained a valuable skill in the process."