Edinburgh has lost nearly a quarter of its ATMs since beginning of pandemic

In total, 25 ATMs have been lost in Edinburgh since January 2019

The new report by UK merchant payment provider, Dojo, has revealed the extent to which Britain’s high streets are losing their ATMs and which UK cities are the most affected, with the Scottish Capital coming in at second place after York.

Dojo, part of the Paymentsense brand, 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.

In the same period machines, 25 machines, or 24 per cent of ATMs, were lost in Edinburgh dropping from 104 to just 79.

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 Dojo said: “During the course of the coronavirus pandemic, the makeup of the great British high street 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.”

York lost more than 28.5 per cent of their ATMs in the same period and took the top spot for the worst hit spot for ATM losses in the UK followed by Edinburgh, and then London which lost just over 23 per cent of machines.

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