A West Lothian town has lost ten per cent of its ATM’s in just over a year.
New research by a UK merchant payment provider has revealed that Livingston has lost 13 ATMs in a year, and they were mostly free to use machines.
In January 2019, there were 121 ATM’s in Livingston but by September 2020, there were 108 ATM’s.
Therefore, Livingston lost 13 ATM’s during this period, which is a -10.74 per cent decline.
Edinburgh is the top Scottish city and second top UK city to lose the most ATM’s during the pandemic. In January 2019, Edinburgh had 104 ATM’s, but in September 2020, this number decreased by 25, meaning that with a population of 482,005, there is now 6101 people per ATM.
The report found that between January 2019 and September 2020 the number of cash machines in Britain dropped from 62,967 to 55,674, a decrease of 7,293, with an average of over 340 machines disappearing from high streets every month.
Although the elderly and those on low incomes are the most reliant on ATM technology, the number of free to use machines is dropping at a faster rate than those which charge a usage fee. These particular cash machines which are less financially viable are often the ones to first disappear ahead of those that charge a fee to use meaning more members of the public are left with less choice of where to go to take out their money.
Jon Knott, head of customer insight at merchant payment provider, Dojo, said: “During the course of the coronavirus pandemic, the makeup of the great British highstreet has changed enormously.
“While it’s long been evolving in the face of the rising of the digital marketplace, coronavirus has reaffirmed the dominance of financial technologies.
“As we’ve seen already in the press, the contactless limit could increase once again from £45 to £100, allowing people more convenience to tap for their in-store purchases. With more and more people opting for Apple and Google Pay which has no capped limit for contactless payments, consumers are welcoming the efficiency and speed at which they can purchase larger value products and services.
“It is no surprise then, in our digitised economy, that the use of cash is decreasing, making ATMs redundant.“
For more information: https://dojo.tech/blog/uk-cash-machine-declines/
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