Atm 'blackout' fear for villages as 300 cash machines disappear every month

Sam Meadows Personal finance reporter. Katie Morley Consumer Affairs Editor 29 June 2018 12:01am BST Britain's ATMs are disappearing at a rate of 300 per month across the UK, leaving

consumers struggling to access cash, a Which? study has found.    According to the consumers body the number shutting down increased six-fold in anticipation of a fee change by

Britain's cash point network Link, rising from around 50 closures in 2015. The Telegraph can also reveal that the UK's biggest cash point provider, Cardtronics, is planning to

start charging customers at up to 6,000 of its 20,000 ATMs which are currently free within a year. Industry insiders say this is likely to be replicated by other providers with thousands set

to start charging customers to access their cash over the next 12 months. Harry Rose, of Which?, said: “These cuts could see millions of people who rely on cash in their daily lives

struggling through these closures - with severe consequences for many communities and businesses. “The impact is already clear - with machines closing at a frightening pace. The regulator

must act now to stop further closures and ensure that consumers aren't suddenly stripped of their access to cash.” Ron Delnevo, of the ATM Industry Association, said: “It’s too late to

save bank branches which means it’s vital to save ATMs. “One ATM is not enough for a whole village or town. They are machines, they fail and need to be fixed and that could mean people have

to travel nine or 10 miles for cash.” Cashless Britain When you withdraw money from a free-to-use cashpoint your card issuer pays the ATM operator an “interchange fee” of 25p. However, from

Sunday Link is beginning a process to gradually reduce this fee to 20p, which experts warn will force many Banks and operators to close free cashpoints. Link has pledged to protect access to

cash in rural areas through its financial inclusion programme, which allows an increase in the fee paid in areas where there is only one ATM within a one kilometre radius. But the Which?

research casts doubt on this claim, suggesting that rural areas have been more harshly affected by cashpoint closures in the past six months. According to the consumer group, the overall

number of cashpoints in Britain has reduced from 69,901 to 68,483 between November and April. Is Britain ready to go cashless? UK heading towards abolishing physical money Which? said the

findings suggested that operators had already determined that Link measures to protect rural cashpoints do not go far enough. One operator, NoteMachine, told the group that learning of the

changes had had an “immediate effect” on its ability to provide free cash. A spokesman for Link said the past decade had seen a decrease of a third in cash payments and a simultaneous

increase in free-to-use cash machines of 18,000. He said: "While the overall number of machines is likely to fall in overprovided areas, the overall coverage will be protected for

consumers.” He said the number of free-to-use cashpoints had remained steady throughout the period the Which? research covers. A Cardtronics spokesman said: “We continue to work

collaboratively with Link and the banks towards the shared goal of protecting free access to cash for consumers and supporting financial inclusion."