Highland village first stop for ATM pilot

● Durness has free access to cash again after losing last machine this summer

A Scottish village is to be the first to receive a free ATM under a pilot scheme to fund new cash machines in areas which have lost access following bank cutbacks.

ATM network provider LINK is to install a machine in Durness in the Highlands and announced that any communities lacking a cash machine can apply for one to be put in by the cash machine network.

Since the last ATM in the village was removed in the summer, locals have been forced to face either a 53-mile drive to Lochinver or a 71-mile ride to Thurso to access a free ATM machine. A cash machine inside the local Post Office is only open during shop hours.

Many rural communities across Scotland have lost access to free cash machines after banks have pulled out of the locations, claiming that the machines are not viable due to low usage.

The village is one of five UK communities which are to receive a new cash machine, while all others which are without access can apply to have one installed, paid for with funding from all the UK’S main banks and building societies.

John Howells, chief executive of LINK, said: “LINK is determined to defend free access to cash across the UK in the face of very rapidly declining cash use. LINK will take further steps to ensure that the free ATM footprint is safe in Scotland and extend itscommitmenttocoverevery high street.

“We also want

to

support communities with specific access to cash needs such as the town of Durness in the north-west Highlands of Scotland, where locals have to drive for an hour to get to their nearest free machine. LINK will organise a new free ATM for Durness as part of a national trial to see how to best provide free access to cash.”

According to LINK data published earlier this year, Scotland’s cash machine usage plummeted by 5.4 per cent in the first four months of 2019 compared with the same period last year.

Total cash withdrawals, including where customers use their own bank or building society’s ATMS, peaked in the UK both for volume and value in 2012.

Gareth Shaw, head of money at Which?, said: “This long-overdue action on cash machines is hugely welcome – but these measures on their own are unlikely to be enough to stem the tide of ATM closures that has left communities across the UK struggling to access cash.

“The government’s new access to cash strategy group must urgently explore all options – including legislation – to ensure a robust system is in place to preserve free access to cash for as long as people need it.”

An Access to Cash Review, chaired by Natalie Ceeney, reported to the UK government in March. The review concluded that around eight million adults – totalling 17 per cent of the population – would struggle to cope in a cashless society.