Kent Reliance Building Society has confirmed it is to move out of Chatham and blames traffic congestion.

Chief executive Mike Lazenby said that traffic "chaos" in the Medway Towns had made it increasingly difficult for staff to get to work in its Sun Pier headquarters on time.

The mutual, said to be the fastest-growing building society over the past 10 years, is poised to sign a deal on one of two possible new headquarters.

"The traffic situation is appalling," Mr Lazenby said. "Enough is enough."

Mr Lazenby has been expressing concern about traffic in Medway for some time, and has threatened on several occasions to move out.

Now it seems he is about to carry out that threat. He said the business was in discussion with the owners of two potential office complexes. Both were outside Chatham town centre, but Mr Lazenby declined to say where they were.

Kent Reliance employs 55 people at Sun Pier. It owns the freehold of the building which it bought from the BBC some years ago.

It occupies a prime riverfront location and the society is hoping to gain planning permission for the offices to be converted into desirable apartments with views over the Medway.

Meanwhile, the society is about to open a third office complex in India and create up to 500 jobs.

It already has a processing and call centre in Bangalore employing just over 100 people. As well as dealing with members’ account and queries, EasiProcess also works for third-party clients.

The latest office will be in Pune. "We are expanding and taking on 500 staff over the next three years," Mr Lazenby said. It would meet rising demand from other clients and also act as a back-up centre for Bangalore.