Ban ATM fees, says machines’ inventor
Scottish engineer backs MP’s bid to outlaw charges
THE Scot who invented the ATM is urging the government to ban charges which force people to pay up to £2 to withdraw their money from cash machines.
James Goodfellow attacked banking bosses, claiming they are unfairly penalising people as the number of free-to-use cash machines plummets.
The 81-year-old was speaking ahead of a second reading of the Banking (Cash Machine Charges and Financial Inclusion) Bill in Westminster today.
The Bill, put forward by Labour MP Gerald Killen, will outlaw charges on all cash machines – and has achieved cross-party backing in the Commons.
Mr Goodfellow is lending his support to Mr Killen, saying that the machines he designed should not be used to further profits of large companies and banks, but allow people to freely and easily access their money.
He raised serious concerns over elderly customers and the less well-off, and claimed banks had benefited greatly from his creation – and have a ‘moral obligation’ to protect free-to-use ATMs.
Mr Goodfellow said: ‘I think this Bill is important, and I certainly support Mr Killen’s efforts. I think the banks have done rather well out of the cash machine.
‘The ATM has been a boon to the banks – it solved an industrial relations problem in the sixties, but it has also drawn in customers which was never envisioned at the time of conception. The advantages have seen a huge additional customer base to sell to, and it has meant that banks don’t have to have branches in costly high street locations. It is a win, win, win for the banks.’
Engineer Mr Goodfellow, from Paisley, Renfrewshire, was working for Glasgow firm Kelvin Hughes in the 1960s when he was tasked with finding a way for customers to withdraw money outside bank hours. His system accepted a machine-readable encrypted card, with a numerical PIN code. He received an OBE for his work in 2006.
The Scot said: ‘The argument to charge just doesn’t hold water. They don’t have to and shouldn’t penalise people.’
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. It says this will help to ‘rebalance’ availability of free machines.
But there are fears this could leave rural and vulnerable customers unable to access cash.
Mr Killen has led a campaign to ban ATM charges.
He said: ‘I am very pleased to have the support of James Goodfellow, his support has added to the growing number of voices calling for a sensible approach to how we manage the transition to a cashless society.
‘I have brought forward my Bill to prevent communities from being cut off from the financial services they need.’
The Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP has previously told how people are being charged up to £1.99 to withdraw cash from some ATMs.
Mr Killen is being backed in his campaign by consumer organisation Which?. Its money expert Gareth Shaw said: ‘There is still significant appetite for cash use, particularly among lower-income households and elderly people, who must not be stripped of free access to this payment method.’
‘Argument doesn’t hold water’