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Cash isn’t dead yet: record May bank holiday weekend for ATM withdrawals

Joanna Faith
Written By:
Joanna Faith
Posted:
Updated:
05/05/2016

Reports of the death of cash may be a little premature after record amounts of money were withdrawn from Britain’s ATMs over the May bank holiday.

LINK, the UK’s cash machine network, said over £100m more was withdrawn from the UK’s ATMs during this year’s May Day bank holiday weekend compared with last year.

It said the total value of LINK cash withdrawals between Friday 29 April and Monday 2 May rose by £113m – or 7% – from £1.603 billion to £1.716 billion, compared with the same period last year.

It was the busiest ever May Day bank holiday weekend for the UK’s 70,270 ATMs.

Friday 29 April was by far the most popular time for a trip to the cash machine, with £620m withdrawn on that day alone, up £27m on 2015.

John Howells, chief executive of LINK, said: “A mixture of some long overdue good weather, a packed sporting calendar and the extra day off work that many of us enjoy meant that last weekend marked an all-time high in May bank holiday ATM withdrawals.

“Despite the many different ways to pay that we have in this country, this record for ATM withdrawals clearly shows that cash has a bright future in the UK.”