AN MP has blasted banks and other financial institutions for increasing the number of cash machines that charge customers.
Chorley Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle has put down a Commons Motion, backed by 15 colleagues, which reveals that almost a quarter of ATMs now force customers to pay for withdrawals and demands the firms involved scrap charges.
His motion, on the Commons Order Paper which is Parliament's daily agenda sent to all MPs, ministers and civil servants, "condemns the sharp rise in the number of cash machines which charge customers for removing their money."
The MPs go on to say: "We know that convenience machines placed at locations such as supermarkets, pubs, post offices, factories, amusement parks and service centres charge customers between £1.25 and £1.50 for each transaction, with the number of machines charging rising from 3.2 per cent in February 2000 to 24.5 per cent in February 2003.
"We further note that overall this is costing an extra £115million a year hitting those on low incomes hardest and we call on the firms operating machines to remove these charges."
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