One in 10 free cash machines could go within MONTHS as millions are set to face charges to draw out their money

One in ten of the free-to-use cash machines that give a lifeline to communities are under threat, campaigners warn.

Thousands are being converted so that they charge for withdrawals or they are being removed entirely, research shows.

In the first three months of the year, 1,700 ATMs have begun charging up to £1.99 per withdrawal.

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Thousands of ATMs are being converted so that they charge for withdrawals or they are being removed entirely, research shows (stock image)

With many more due to be taken away or introduce charges, consumer experts Which? say that within months more than ten per cent of the UK’s free cashpoints could be lost.

The machines provide a financial lifeline to millions, particularly the elderly, who rely on them to provide cash for everyday shopping and paying bills.

The nation’s 63,000 ATMs handle more than 50million transactions each week with withdrawals totalling £2.2billion. Figures obtained by consumer group Which? show fees of between 95p and £1.99 per withdrawal were imposed at almost 1,700 machines between January and March.

It warned that the rate fees are being introduced is rising sharply as three-quarters of these changes happened in March alone.

Almost 3,000 cash machines were withdrawn in the last six months of 2018, more than half of them free to use. 

Most of the ATMs with new fees are operated by Cardtronics, the UK’s biggest cashpoint operator. It has warned it is likely to switch a further 1,000 machines to fee-charging in the coming months.

Another major provider, Notemachine, has warned it is considering converting up to 4,000 machines in its 7,000 network to charge fees due to changes in how ATM transactions are funded. If these plans go ahead, 13 per cent of the UK’s free cashpoints will be lost.

Which? is concerned that the cost of operating cash machines is being moved from the big banks to customers in a bid to force through a cashless society where everyone uses plastic cards or smartphone apps. The five biggest high street banks made a combined £30billion of profit last year yet have cut the fees they pay to ATM operators, who say many rural machines are no longer economically viable as a result.

MP Ruth Smeeth raises the issue of no free ATMs in Burslem

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Which? wants a government-appointed regulator to protect consumers and businesses to ensure no one is denied their ability to access cash. It says 2.2million people remain almost entirely reliant on cash.

‘Communities are being stripped of free access to cash at an alarming rate that could hit the most vulnerable in our society the hardest, while denying millions of people free withdrawals,’ said the group’s head of money Gareth Shaw.

‘A regulator is desperately needed to get a grip of these rapid changes.’ The group LINK, which manages the banks’ ATM network, has a duty to ensure all communities, including those in deprived areas, have access to cash.

It has pledged to protect 2,365 ATMs in remote and rural areas. But Which? said that 102 ‘protected’ machines – those more than a kilometre (0.6 miles) from the next machine – closed last year.

LINK’s figures show that in the last half of 2018, ATMs disapeared at the rate of 122 a week – half of them free to use.

Federation of Small Businesses chairman Mike Cherry said: ‘Many small firms still have customers that want to pay in cash. Every pound lost to ATM charges is a pound not spent with small businesses.’