The poorest people in the UK and those living in remote rural communities are being hit the hardest by cash machine charges, with many areas becoming "free ATM deserts", according to research released by national charity Citizens Advice.
Citizens Advice Bureaux across Britain were asked to map provision of free and fee-charging ATMs in their area and to evaluate the signage on machines.
Clients coming to bureaux were also asked to fill in cards detailing their usage of fee-charging machines. Running simultaneously was an online survey on the Citizens Advice Web site, which tried to gauge public usage and opinion of, fee-charging ATMs.
Ninety two bureaux mapped 265 ATMs in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland and 7500 people participated in the online survey.
The research paper deails the findings, and includes recommendations to a range of stakeholders, including government departments, the Link ATM network, the Post Office and banks.
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