RESIDENTS in Wellington were left without free access to cash on Easter Sunday after the town’s only accessible ATM broke down.

The cash machine in High Street was flashing an ‘out of service’ message to anybody who tried to use it for most of the day on Sunday.

It left people needing cash faced with a choice of paying a £1.25 fee to use an ATM on the forecourt of the Longforth Road Texaco filling station, or making a purchase in the Iron Duke public house to receive ‘cashback’.

Usually, Wellington residents would have a choice of three free ATMs, the one in High Street and machines in Asda and Co-op supermarkets, as well as being able to withdraw cash from the town’s community banking hub.

But both supermarkets were closed under trading laws which prevented them opening on Easter Sunday, and the banking hub does not open at weekends, meaning people would have to travel to Westpark, Chelston, to find the nearest free to use ATM.

Wellington town Cllr John Thorne said it was vital people had access to cash when they needed it, particularly if there were issues with online or digital technology or if they needed to keep close control of their spending.

Cllr Thorne said the town centre had five free to use ATMs available 24 hours a day until Wellington started losing its high street banks and machines were removed.

He said: “The importance of having access to cash is recognised by the Government, which is why they make the big high street banks pay for a banking hub to be set up when a community loses its last bank.

“We will shortly be working on refreshing our preparedness for community emergencies such as severe weather events and as part of that process I will be raising the issue of maintaining cash access.”