An ATM network boss has said charges for people withdrawing their money are “unacceptable”.

Speaking at a meeting of Holyrood’s Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee on Tuesday, Adrian Roberts, the chief commercial officer for Link, agreed the public should not be charged for taking out their own cash.

NoteMachine UK CEO Peter McNamara said the combination of bank closures and the removal of ATMs across Scotland meant the country was “sleepwalking into a cash disaster”.

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In recent years, Link – which oversees the majority of the ATMs in the British network – has reduced its “interchange fee”, a payment made by banks to the individual operators of each machine when money is taken out by one of their clients.

The reduction has resulted in an increase in the number of ATMs that charge a fee – usually between 50p and £1.99.

SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald asked the panel if it was acceptable that people in a deprived area of his Edinburgh Pentland constituency were having to pay to take out their own money.

Mr Roberts replied: “No, I don’t think that’s acceptable. I don’t think it’s acceptable that anyone should have to pay to access their own cash.

“That’s the point I wanted to make earlier, it’s about giving consumers choice.”

Mr Roberts asked that Mr MacDonald share more about the case so his company can look into details of the cash provision and potentially take action.

He added: “Perhaps Link should look into that as part of our community request scheme and potentially put one in because it’s absolutely not acceptable that people are having to pay to access their own cash.”

Mr McNamara said cash supply should be considered a utility, in the same way as water or electricity is, to allow for a service to be provided for free.

He also said cash was a “universal need”, adding the most common amount taken out of ATMs was close to £20, which he believes is due to “poorer” people using cash as an easier way to budget finances than using their debit cards.

“The absence of these ATMs is removing economic activity from where they’re situated and putting it somewhere else,” Mr McNamara said.

“To be very blunt, this is sleepwalking into a bit of a disaster over the absence of cash and I’m afraid that Scotland is leading the way by losing more than anywhere else, as it lost more bank branches than anywhere else.

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“This is a really serious question, that I don’t think is being adequately addressed.

“There needs to be some mechanism which isn’t currently being looked at to guarantee the supply of cash, otherwise that infrastructure won’t exist.”

Earlier in the meeting, during a discussion between business bodies, the head of payment policy at the British Retail Consortium Andrew Cregan described the inability to access cash in rural or deprived communities as a “social justice issue”.