A NEW report has revealed the extent of how the pandemic has contributed to Britain’s high streets losing their ATMs - and Bradford has been affected.

The report by UK merchant payment provider, Dojo, revealed that between January 2019 and September 2020 the number of cash machines in Britain dropped from 62,967 to 55,674, a decrease of 7,293, with an average of over 340 machines disappearing from high streets every month.

In January 2019, there were 75 ATMs in East Bradford, but in September 2020 there were only 63. The loss of 12 machines during this time represented a 16 per cent decline.

There were 140 ATMs in West Bradford in January 2019, but in September 2020 there were 124, a loss of 16 machines and a decline of 11.43 per cent.

South Bradford only lost two machines during this time, going from 68 ATMs to 66, a decline of 2.94 per cent.

Nearby Huddersfield lost 17 ATMs in the town during the same period, and there are now only 130 available to residents, a decline of 11.56 per cent.

The city of York saw the highest rate of decline, with its number of ATMs dropping from 63 in January 2019 to just 45 in September 2020, losing 18 machines, a drop of almost 29 per cent.

According to the report, free to use ATM machines are declining at a faster rate than those that charge.

The report says that although the elderly and those on low incomes are the most reliant on ATM technology, the number of free to use machines is dropping at a faster rate than those which charge a usage fee.

The report says free to use machines, which are less financially viable, are often the first to disappear ahead of those that charge a fee to use, meaning more members of the public are left with less choice of where to go to take out their money.

Jon Knott, Head of Customer Insight at Dojo, said: “During the course of the coronavirus pandemic, the makeup of the great British high street has changed enormously.

"While it’s long been evolving in the face of the rising of the digital marketplace, coronavirus has reaffirmed the dominance of financial technologies.

"As we’ve seen already, the contactless limit could increase once again from £45 to £100, allowing people more convenience to tap for their in-store purchases.

"With more and more people opting for Apple and Google Pay which has no capped limit for contactless payments, consumers are welcoming the efficiency and speed at which they can purchase larger value products and services.

It is no surprise then, in our digitised economy, that the use of cash is decreasing, making ATMs redundant.“