A CAFE owner has condemned bank charges which have been introduced in an ATM outside her business.

Liz Sweeney arranged for the cash machine to be installed outside Sweeney’s in Maryhill after a succession of banks closed in the area.

The Royal Bank of Scotland, TSB and Bank of Scotland all had nearby branches which have closed over a three-year period.

It left the area without a bank until Ms Sweeney arranged to have one installed by CashZone which initially carried no charges for withdrawing money.

The cash machine operator has now introduced a 95p charge for every transaction.

Ms Sweeney, 61, of Summerston, said: “I’ve been here for 15 years and we have lost the Royal Bank of Scotland, TSB and Bank of Scotland.

“After the banks shut we asked for a machine to 24-hour cashline to be installed.

“A lot of people stopped and used it at night when

they were going to the dancing.”

Customers do not withdraw large amounts of money but the charges have forced people to go elsewhere.

Ms Sweeney added: “Customers do not withdraw large amounts of money from the machine.

“It’s 95p for every transaction now, it’s a disgrace.”

A spokeswoman for Cardtronics, which owns the CashZone, said: “The decision on whether to introduce a fee is taken on a case-by-case basis and reflects the economic viability of the individual machine.

“The decision to introduce a charge is not one we have taken lightly, but LINK’s cuts have left us with no choice on some of our machines.”

A LINK spokesman said: “Free access to cash is vital for consumers, therefore it is disappointing that a decision has been made to turn free machines into charging ones.

“The reduction in the interchange fee amounts to less than 3p per transaction, therefore asking customers to pay 95 pence per transaction seems unjustified.

“In this instance we can see that there are number of free to use machines nearby so there is no negative impact

on access to cash for consumers.”