UK building society Nationwide has partnered with BT to introduce the first of a series of free-to-use ATMs that are attached to telephone kiosks.
Nationwide says the project with BT backs its focus on providing customers with easy, free access to cash in locations where there may not be a branch or agency at a time when the number of ATMs that charge for withdrawals, typically £1.50 per transaction, is on the increase.
Nationwide currently operates a network of 2,424 free-to-use cash machines in the UK and says the partnership with BT will allow the Society to increase the accessibility of free ATMs available to consumers.
The building society launched the first of five highly-secure, bullet proof, cash machines attached to a BT kiosk in Whitehills Crescent, Northampton, in May, and the other four were in place soon afterwards, with a second unit sited in Market Square, Northampton, another in Havelock Square, Swindon, and two units in High Street, Slough.
Stuart Bernau, executive director at Nationwide, says: "This latest initiative in partnership with BT underlines Nationwide's strong and on-going commitment to providing cash machines that do not levy punitive charges on consumers who are simply withdrawing their own funds."
News of the initiative comes as an ATM taskforce meets in London to address the issue of fee-charging cash machines.
Research released earlier this week by UK charity Citizens Advice found that the poorest people and those living in rural communities are being hit the hardest by cash machine charges because banks have closed branches and removed free-to-use ATMs in deprived and remote areas.