Cash machines will vanish from the High Street within a decade, the head of the free ATM network has said.
Instead customers will be forced to withdraw money from tills in shops.
John Howells, who runs Link, which oversees more than 70,000 ATMs across the country, believes payments with paper money will plunge in the next ten years.
Cash machines on the high street could disappear in the next decade according to experts
He expects this to drive down the number of withdrawals from cash machines, meaning huge numbers will become unprofitable and shut down.
The claims will alarm the millions of people in isolated areas who have already lost their bank branches and rely on ATM withdrawals to get by.
Retail groups raised fears it could force shopkeepers to hold on to vast amounts of cash, making them rich pickings for violent criminals. A cash machine that handles 6,000 transactions a month can dispense up to £350,000, way beyond the amount held by most small businesses.
There was also anger from ATM operators, with one lobby group claiming the proposals are part of a plot to kill off cash for good.
Mr Howells said: ‘In a five to ten-year window, there will come a point where we’ll have to not have ATMs. We need other ways for consumers to access cash, and the obvious way is through retailers’ tills.’
ATM boss John Howells said most machines could be gone within a decade
Warnings that ATMs could disappear follow an unprecedented wave of branch closures as banks abandon towns and villages where they can’t make a big enough profit. The changes mean many towns and villages rely solely on ATMs for access to cash, and if these were withdrawn it would force families and business owners to travel miles. Isolated towns are also more likely to have cash-only shops, cafes and pubs.
Research by payments company Worldpay last year found that about 60,000 small businesses across the country do not accept cards.
James Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, said: ‘We would be very concerned if retailers were required to keep large amounts of cash in their tills, as this could encourage crime against stores and have safety implications for staff. Where ATM thefts occur, they are often carried out by organised gangs using heavy machinery so to move cash into the store would be problematic.’
Mike Cherry, of the Federation of Small Businesses, added: ‘The suggestion that retailers could take on the role of handing out cash means putting a burden on to firms, which are often small and have issues accessing cash themselves.’
The warning comes amid a row over fees, which it is claimed could lead to drastic falls in the number of cash machines. Lloyds and NatWest owner RBS are pushing for a cut in the charges they pay when one of their customers withdraws money from another ATM operator.
MP Nicky Morgan who is chair of the Treasury select committee warned the proposals could leave ‘ATM deserts’ for communities across the country
Link is planning to cut these fees by 20 per cent over the next five years, and operators’ lobby groups have argued it could see one in ten towns and villages left without a free machine.
MPs on the Treasury select committee have warned Link not to do anything which reduces coverage. Chairman Nicky Morgan said: ‘There have been concerns that the proposals could lead to “ATM deserts” for communities.’
Although Mr Howells strongly denies this, he said cash machines can cost as much as £30,000 a year to run, which is not sustainable in the long term.
He believes cash transactions will fall dramatically in coming years as cards are accepted more widely, contactless spending becomes the norm and internet shopping continues to rise. Mr Howells believes Link can help provide a cheaper solution to cashback options in stores, which are unpopular with retailers.
However, the Link boss stressed he wants to keep free ATMs open as long as possible.