Feelgood factor fuels ATM bandits

By TOBY WALNE, CHIEF MONEY REPORTER
Updated: 06:31 EST, 9 May 2005

THE good times roll for the revellers in the West End. Until they use the cash machines in the pubs, clubs and bars. After all, a whopping £10 fee for drawing your own money is enough to take the smile off anyone's face.

The everyday punters thronging the capital's premier entertainment district are queuing 12 deep on Friday night for the two fee-free machines at NatWest in Leicester Square.

It is no surprise that there are no queues for the ATMs in the nearby pubs and clubs - most charge at least £1.50 per withdrawal.

But just a short stroll away is surely the most expensive cash machine in Britain. Inside the Miranda Club off Carnaby Street, members are stung for £10 for each transaction at the ATM operated by Hanco.

Fortunately, I am not allowed into the dimly lit private hostess club as I do not have a member to sign me in or the necessary £160 joining fee. Perhaps it is as well - on top of the stinging cash machine charge, the minimum withdrawal is £100.

Back in Leicester Square, student Paula Green, 19, is in the queue at the NatWest ATM. She prefers to wait rather than pay £1.50 for her cash at the fee-charging machine inside the nearby Equinox nightclub, where she is heading.

Paula, a media studies undergraduate from Abbey Wood, south-east London, says: 'I never use fee-charging machines because I hate the idea of paying to withdraw my own cash.'

At one corner of Leicester Square is the famous Hippodrome nightclub. Like most clubs, it has a fee-charging ATM. The machine, operated by TRM, charges £1.50 for each withdrawal.

The atmosphere is buzzing inside the packed club. Companies that provide fee-charging machines feed off this feelgood factor. Guests who run out of money prefer the convenience of using the ATM in the club rather than leaving to find a free machine. As much as £20,000 can be dispensed by one of these machines over a weekend.

Aman Moti, 24, a fashion assistant from Vauxhall, south London, says: 'These machines are despicable. Customers should be charged nothing, exactly as they are at bank cash machines. It angers me that clubbers are exploited for not being able to get out for cash.'

Roberta Bowie and her friend Camilla Sharples, 23, both blame the banks for not providing competition.

Roberta, 22, from St Albans, Hertfordshire, says: 'It's terrible being stuck in the club with no money and even worse if you need to catch a cab. Access to cash inside a club is essential, even if it means you often spend more in an evening than you intended.'

A short walk away in Charing Cross Road is the Montague Pyke bar, which has a Hanco fee-charging machine that takes £1.50 per transaction.

Actor John Johnston, 24, from Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, says: 'It's like being robbed. But after a few too many pints, I'm afraid I lose any sense of economy.'

There were no fee-charging ATMs five years ago. Today, there are more than 22,000 - that is 40% of the market - and they are expected to outnumber free bank and building society machines by the end of the year.

A key reason for the boom is that site owners can profit from fee-charging cash machines. ATMs typically charge each customer £1.50, but the cost of a transaction is only 31p. The provider might skim off a further 70p and the site owner pockets the rest.