Cash machines surrender

In June of this year, Rye News told our readers that the cash machines at Jempson’s, Rye, which had formerly been free to use, were now going to charge just under £1 for every withdrawal made.

Not only was there a howl of protest in this paper and elsewhere, at what people saw as blatant opportunism by the cash machine operators (not Jempson’s who, we were told, also protested at this), coming, as it did hard on the heels of the closure of the last of the big four banks’ branches in the town, but potential users now also protested with their feet and went to the only town centre cash machine left, at Nationwide.

The result of this, of course, was that apart from regular queues at Nationwide and, at least in the early days, regular reports of that machine running out of cash, the Cash Zone machines drew significantly less custom.

It seems that the operators have realised the error of their ways and thanks to continued pressure from Jempson’s and publicity through Rye News, the have reversed their decision and the machines are once again free to use.

People power works!

Image Credits: John Minter .