‘Cash deserts’ hit 100,000 people as ATMs close down

two-thirds the machines charge a fee for withdrawals, leaving people having to pay to access their own money. Bank branch closures and declining cash usage have led to a sharp decline in free-to-use cashpoints, an issue previously raised by the Mirror. Which? said 578 ATMs closed a month in the first half of 2019. The organisation’s Gareth Shaw said: “There is a broken cash landscape that is leaving CLOSURE ATM many people struggling.”

MORE than 100,000 people struggle to access money due to a lack of cashpoints, a consumer group has said.

Which? found 259 communities in the UK have poor ATM provision or none at all, and

36 areas with no access to cash also have no Post Office, creating “cash deserts”.

And of the 129 communities with just one cash machine, in