LINK, operator of the UK cash machine network, has reported that the May Day weekend saw new records for the volume and value of LINK cash machine (ATM) transactions.*
May Day weekend 2010 records
Friday 30 April was the busiest day ever for LINK cash withdrawals with £590 million withdrawn, beating the previous record, which was on Christmas Eve 2009, by £25 million. Over £1.5 billion had been withdrawn by the end of the Bank Holiday weekend, an increase of 9% on the same period in 2009.
Friday lunch time is the busiest time of the week for cash machines and, on Friday 30 April, transactions hit a new record of over 1,100,000 in one hour and nearly 20,000 in a single minute.
LINK processed a total of 13,434,665 transactions on 30 April, with 1,101,102 in the busiest hour (between 12:00 noon and 1.00pm) and 19,800 in the busiest minute (1.10pm). The busiest second was 12:10:52pm when there were 433 transactions.
Edwin Schooling Latter, Managing Director, LINK Scheme commented, “For most people in the UK, queuing at a counter to obtain cash is a thing of the past. Cash machine usage continues to grow, with new records for cash dispensed set this weekend.”
|
Bank holiday weekend |
Cash machine |
Bank holiday weekend |
Cash machine |
| Friday Saturday Sunday Monday |
£529 million £422 million £236 million £220 million |
Friday Saturday Sunday Monday |
£590 million £460 million £246 million £244 million |
| Total | £1,407 million | Total | £1,540 million |
* LINK transactions are those which involve two members of the LINK Scheme, i.e. they exclude customers using their own banks’ or building societies’ ATMs. Total transactions include balance enquires as well as cash withdrawals.
- ENDS -
Notes to Editors
Media Enquiries
For more information please contact Mark Bowerman at the LINK Press Office.
Email: press@ukpayments.org.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7711 6340 / 020 7711 6368
Mobile: +44 (0) 7811 113 075
About LINK
LINK is the UK's cash machine network. Virtually every cash machine in the UK (free-to-use and pay-to-use) is connected to LINK, and LINK provides the only route through which card issuers can offer their customers reliable nationwide access to cash. All the UK's significant debit and ATM card issuers are LINK members.
Cash machine operators who want to deploy ATMs in the UK must join LINK in order to be able to offer cash to all 130 million LINK-enabled cards in circulation.
The number of cash machines in the UK has grown from 36,000 in 2001 to 63,000 today. The number of free-to-use ATMs is at an all-time high of just over 40,000.
Almost 97% of all ATM cash withdrawals by UK cardholders in the UK are made free-of-charge.
www.link.co.uk
