Customers will be charged to use three cash machines in Inverclyde

The Cardtronics ATMs in West Blackhall Street, Cumberland Road and Bow Road will soon no longer be free to use.

Inverclyde's MP Ronnie Cowan has slammed the charges and has vowed to fight to have them overturned.

He told the Tele: "It's a charge for withdrawing your own money from your own account.

"It's a stealth tax."

Mr Cowan says the charges are unfair to customers forced to use the ATMs due to an increase in bank branch closures.

And he fears that the charges could set a dangerous precedent.

He said: "If they get away with it then they will continue to do it.

"What control is there over the charges?"

In a letter issued to Mr Cowan, Cardtronics says it has been forced to introduce fees to the three Greenock ATMs due to a cut in the fee operators receive from banks.

It states: "UK banks have made significant savings by closing large numbers of branches over the last few years, dramatically reducing the number of ATMs available to the public.

"This has pushed bank customers onto ATMs offered by companies such as ourselves.

"The banks are now doubling down on their savings by forcing interchange cuts through Link who are themselves funded by the banks.

"In essence, banks are passing the costs of service provision onto independent operators such as ourselves whilst expecting us to continue to provide their customers with free access to cash.

"This is untenable.

"We are a commercial organisation and so we cannot continue to operate our machines at a loss."

Last year, the fee paid to operators such as Cardtronics each time a cash machine is used was cut, with further reductions due each year until 2021.

Link - the largest network which oversees cash machines but does not run them - 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 up to £1.99 per transaction seems unjustified.

“We will investigate to make sure there is no negative impact on access to cash for consumers and LINK will continue provide free access to cash across the UK.”