Shoppers charged £2 for cash as free ATMs are axed
SHOPPERS are being charged nearly £2 to withdraw their own money in some parts of Scotland as the number of free-to-use ATMs plummets, say researchers.
More than 100 cash machines were closed across the country in the past year, with fears an additional 300 will be axed.
LInK, the network responsible for more than 80 per cent of all UK withdrawals from automatic teller machines, plans to cut the fees it pays to cash machine operators. This, it says, will help to ‘rebalance’ the availability of free machines.
However, the move has sparked concern that it could leave rural and vulnerable customers unable to access cash, while businesses fear a reduction in footfall and spending.
Yesterday, Scottish Labour MP Ged Killen launched a campaign showing there are more free-to-use cash machines in the Westminster Parliament than on some high streets.
He disclosed that people in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness are being charged between £1.50 and £1.99 to withdraw cash from some ATMs.
The MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West added the charges were often in areas where there was no free alternative.
He said: ‘We are moving towards a cashless society. However, the rate and spread of these closures could see those who rely on cash be left behind. The closures are uneven in that rural communities have been hit the hardest, with some local authorities having lost as many as 11 per cent of their ATMs in just a five-month period.’
Consumer group Which? this week disclosed that 146 ATMs had been shut north of the Border between november 2017 and April 2018. Forty of these were in rural areas, while 106 were in towns and cities.
Mr Killen said: ‘The findings by Which? are concerning. When they announced a cut in funding to freeto-use ATMs, LInK said that would offer protections for rural communities and those communities more than than 1km away from the nearest ATM. This has not happened.
‘Instead rural communities have borne the brunt of reductions to free-to-use ATMs while there are multiple cases of ATMs closing with the next nearest being significantly more than 1km away.
‘Rural Scotland has suffered the worst of these reductions and there are now fears we could see cash machine deserts created across the UK.
‘LInK has so far failed to meet its promises and it is time for the regulator to seriously look at stepping in.’
‘We could see cash machine deserts’