PROTESTERS were told they faced a £60 fine for handing out leaflets outside the Royal Bank of Scotland on Saturday.

The Bournemouth branch of UK Uncut staged the town centre demonstration to highlight the £1.1 billion paid out by RBS in bonuses.

Paul Williams, 41, from Redhill in Bournemouth, a music teacher, said: “A PCSO told us that we were breaking the law by handing out leaflets.

“He said that there had been complaints made by members of the public – and later admitted they were in fact Royal Bank of Scotland employees.”

He said later two council officers told them they could only hand out non-political material and that they were breaching the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act.

The Act allows for distribution of leaflets for charity or political or religious purposes.

Mr Williams said: “Our small demonstration was clearly political.

“We are campaigning against Government cuts, against bank bonuses and the leaflets also clearly stated our opposition to local cuts to libraries.”

The group met at 10.45am in the square and originally planned to hold a mass read-in to highlight library closures but only four people turned up.

Inspector Peter Browning from Dorset Police said: “We attended with local authority enforcement officers and they were warned about by-laws in the area.”