STAFF, borrowers and savers of the Bradford & Bingley in Oxfordshire were today trying to work out how nationalisation of the bank would affect them.

Bradford & Bingley branches in Oxford reported there were no queues of people trying to remove their cash after the savings arm of the operation was sold to Santander, the parent company of Abbey.

Meanwhile, the Government has taken over the mortgage arm of the business, taking responsibility for its £41bn loan book.

More than 20 Bradford and Bingley staff in its six Oxfordshire branches have been transferred to Abbey, although the speed of the takeover had left some confused.

About 50 mortgage advisors covering 200 branches across the country have been made redundant.

One Oxford worker said: "I have no idea who owns us, I don't know what is going on."

Abbey spokesman Natalie Eyles said: "Everything is business as usual. We have no plans for branch closures and all jobs are safe."

But Ms Eyles said it was too early to comment on whether all the branches would survive — especially as Abbey has five existing branches, one of which is in Summertown where there is a Bradford & Bingley office.

Meanwhile, 900,000 shareholders look to have lost out with the nationalisation with share options "extinguished".

Compensation will only come once the £14bn from the financial services compensation scheme has been repaid.

A Bradford & Bingley statement said: "Shares have been suspended on the London Stock Exchange and can no longer be bought and sold.

"The Government will lay a compensation order detailing the arrangements for compensating shareholders and any others whose rights may have been affected by the transfer."