Barclays bank re-opens after protesters superglue its doors shut in Milton Keynes town

Barclays in Queensway, Bletchley, one of almost 100 branches around the UK forced to close on Monday as part of the "peaceful protest" about Barclays funding fossil fuel companies.

Today it has re-opened for business, but inconvenienced customers have taken to social media to complain.

"I had to get in my car and drive miles round MK looking for another branch so I could do my banking. That didn't help the environment at all," said one.

Others slammed the protest as "pointless", saying it simply caused customers to suffer.

Greenpeace members had gone out in the middle of the night to disable the doors, leaving Barclay's staff unable to get into the premises on Monday morning.

The campaign group claims Barclays is adding to the climate emergency by being one of the UK's biggest funders of fossil fuels and they are urging bosses to switch the funding to renewable energy.

Greenpeace spokesman MortenThaysen said: "Barclays must stop funding the climate emergency, that's why we've taken action today. From floods to bushfires and record heat in Antarctica, the impacts of this crisis are staring us in the face."

He added: "Yet Barclays keeps pumping billions into fossil fuel companies at exactly the time we need to stop backing these polluting businesses...Banks are just as responsible for the climate emergency as the fossil fuel companies they fund, yet they've escaped scrutiny for years.

"We've shut down branches across the country to shine a spotlight on Barclays' role in bankrolling this emergency. It's time Barclays pulled the plug and backed away from funding fossil fuels for good."

A spokesman for Barclays said: "We recognise that climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing the world today, and are determined to do all we can to support the transition to a low carbon economy, while also ensuring that global energy needs continue to be met.

"Greenpeace has a view on these issues to which they are completely entitled, but we would ask that - in expressing that view - they stop short of behaviour which targets our customers, and our colleagues, going about their lives in communities around the country."