London has lost almost a quarter of its cash machines during the Coronavirus pandemic

London has seen a sharp decline in free ATM cash machines which could have a negative impact on the elderly and low-income families.

The capital has lost a staggering 192 cash withdrawal machines during the Coronavirus pandemic alone.

There are now only 638 ATM’s in the entire city and with a population of almost 9.5 million people this means that one cash machine would need to serve 14,583 people.

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.

A report, by UK merchant payment provider Dojo, found that between January 2019 and September 2020 the number of cash machines across the whole of 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.

Jon Knott, Head of Customer Insight at Dojo said: “During the course of the coronavirus pandemic, the makeup of the great British highstreet 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.”