Bank cuts ‘hit weakest hardest’

Nightmare for customers getting access to their cash for shopping

BANK and ATM cash machine closures which make it impossible for people to take out money are hitting the elderly and the poor hardest, says research today.

Four in five pensioners use cash at least two to three times a week, according to consumer champion Which?

And more than 2.2 million people pay with money for their shopping.

Among the elderly and the poorest, 78 per cent of people rely on cash to fund their day-to-day living expenses.

Yet 250 ATM cash machines are closing each month, leaving many communities without free access to funds.

Which? is calling for the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to step in and wants LINK, the UK’s largest ATM network operator, to publish details of its plans.

Typical of towns afflicted by the cutbacks is Bingham in Nottinghamshire with a population of more than 9,000. It now has no banks at all.

Efforts

Ernie Williamson, 77, a retired food distribution manager, said: “The elderly are having to learn to work computers and get around internet banking, unless they are prepared to travel. It is a huge issue for them.”

Alan French, 82, a retired businessman, said: “If you are not computer literate, you’ve got big problems.”

The small town of Langport in Somerset has also had no bank at all since March last year.

Peter Burrowes, 73, a semi-retired electrical and gas services salesman, said: “It really is such a shame. I have switched to online banking now, but you can’t withdraw money from a PC. I won’t use a hole in the wall to get money out. It’s not safe.”

Angela Saunders, 70, former treasurer of the local Rotary Club branch, said: “People have found the community banking bus quite useful, for what it is, but that only comes twice a week for half an hour.”

The PSR said: “There needs to be a sustainable free-to-use ATM network. We are focusing our efforts on making sure there is a plan in place.”

John Howells, chief executive of LINK, said it was committed to trying to ensure everyone in the country had access to free cash.