FEE-CHARGING cash machines are hitting the poorest people and those living in remote communities hardest with many areas becoming "free ATM deserts", a charity warned today.
Citizens Advice said many people on low incomes and those in rural communities increasingly had no choice but to pay to withdraw money because their nearest free machine was several miles away.
Among ATM "deserts" - which the charity defines as an area where there is no free machine for more than a kilometre - was Muirhouse in north Edinburgh, one of Scotland's most deprived areas.
The charity also found a similar lack of ATMs in rural communities such as Arrochar, Mull, Port Ellen and Sandbank in Argyll and Bute.
The organisation is now calling on banks and ATM operators to guarantee not to further reduce the number of free machines in such areas. It also wants Link, the cash machine network, to set up a free ATM desert register for local groups to identify areas where a free machine is needed.
Councils have also been called on to consider installing free machines in public buildings in areas where there are only charging ATMs.
Around 40per cent of all ATMs now charge fees averaging GBP1.50, although some are as high as GBP3. Citizens Advice said these had a disproportionate impact on people on low incomes and those claiming benefits, which are now paid directly into bank accounts.
Kaliani Lyle, chief executive of Citizens Advice Scotland, said: "People on subsistence incomes are the ones who will find it most difficult to absorb the average cost of GBP1.50 for making a cash-withdrawal, particularly if they take out small amounts at a time to help budget.
"A quarter of all withdrawals from a fee-charging machine are for GBP20 or less. This year, it is estimated that people will pay up to GBP250m to access their own money from an ATM."
The charity's report, Out of Pocket, also identified charging hotspots where particularly vulnerable people have no way of withdrawing money for free. It said some hospitals have only fee-charging machines, forcing patients to pay to withdraw their cash, while charging ATMs are also increasingly prevalent on university campuses.
A survey of 265 ATMs found that 41per cent of fee-charging ATMs did not display a sign warning people they would be charged for their transaction.
While welcoming the research, Edwin Latter, scheme director at Link, said there were now "more free cash machines than ever before".
He added: "There are areas that are not served by free cash machines, but in general deprived areas have more free and charging machines than other areas because they tend to be near urban centres."
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