An ATM network boss has said charges for people withdrawing their money are “unacceptable”.
Speaking at a meeting of Holyrood’s Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee on Tuesday, Adrian Roberts, the chief commercial officer for Link, agreed the public should not be charged for taking out their own cash.
NoteMachine UK CEO Peter McNamara said the combination of bank closures and the removal of ATMs across Scotland meant the country was “sleepwalking into a cash disaster”.
READ MORE: The free cash machine scandal
In recent years, Link – which oversees the majority of the ATMs in the British network – has reduced its “interchange fee”, a payment made by banks to the individual operators of each machine when money is taken out by one of their clients.
The reduction has resulted in an increase in the number of ATMs that charge a fee – usually between 50p and £1.99.
SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald asked the panel if it was acceptable that people in a deprived area of his Edinburgh Pentland constituency were having to pay to take out their own money.
Mr Roberts replied: “No, I don’t think that’s acceptable. I don’t think it’s acceptable that anyone should have to pay to access their own cash.
“That’s the point I wanted to make earlier, it’s about giving consumers choice.”
Mr Roberts asked that Mr MacDonald share more about the case so his company can look into details of the cash provision and potentially take action.
He added: “Perhaps Link should look into that as part of our community request scheme and potentially put one in because it’s absolutely not acceptable that people are having to pay to access their own cash.”
Mr McNamara said cash supply should be considered a utility, in the same way as water or electricity is, to allow for a service to be provided for free.
He also said cash was a “universal need”, adding the most common amount taken out of ATMs was close to £20, which he believes is due to “poorer” people using cash as an easier way to budget finances than using their debit cards.
“The absence of these ATMs is removing economic activity from where they’re situated and putting it somewhere else,” Mr McNamara said.
“To be very blunt, this is sleepwalking into a bit of a disaster over the absence of cash and I’m afraid that Scotland is leading the way by losing more than anywhere else, as it lost more bank branches than anywhere else.
READ MORE: One in five cash machines in Scotland to charge in a year
“This is a really serious question, that I don’t think is being adequately addressed.
“There needs to be some mechanism which isn’t currently being looked at to guarantee the supply of cash, otherwise that infrastructure won’t exist.”
Earlier in the meeting, during a discussion between business bodies, the head of payment policy at the British Retail Consortium Andrew Cregan described the inability to access cash in rural or deprived communities as a “social justice issue”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel