LINK has opened a new free-to-use ATM at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury.

The installation follows a recent cash machine closure at the nearby Texaco petrol station. Without the new machine, hospital staff, patients and visitors requiring cash would need to walk down the Rochdale Old Road to a nearby convenience store. The nearest 24/7 ATM was more than one km away.

The site in Bury is one of over 3,000 areas across the UK where cash access is protected by LINK. This means that in the event of an ATM being removed or switching to charging, LINK works with the local community to reinstall a free-to-use machine.

In addition to protecting existing machines, LINK has invited communities across the country to request help directly from LINK for support for free access to cash, and has so far helped over 50 communities with better free cash access.

LINK, head of commercial initiatives, Ian Vernon: “If you’re visiting family or friends in hospital, or a front-line NHS worker, the last thing you want to do is trying to find the nearest free ATM. We’re delighted to install the machine and to provide free access to cash to NHS staff and visitors to the hospital.”

Cardtronics PLC, international managing director, Marc Terry: “Cardtronics is delighted to be able to provide this service for Fairfield Hospital staff, patients and visitors. We believe that access to cash is vitally important to the UK economy, and the LINK Direct Commissioning scheme has allowed this ATM to offer a free-to-use service for the community. As the UK slowly emerges from lockdown, we expect to see the demand for cash return and this ATM provides a convenient local service for everyone at the hospital.”

For requests for a free-to-use cash machine, if it meets the criteria which includes distance to nearest free ATM, availability of a Post Office, site security and that there is a suitable location, LINK will fund the new ATM directly. The website can be found at: link.co.uk/consumers/request-access-to-cash/