RESIDENTS in the Intack area of Blackburn are celebrating after a free cash machine was installed at their post office.
The introduction of the cash machine, in Intack Post Office, comes after a two-year campaign by staff at the Accrington Road branch.
Previously people had to travel two miles to the nearest free cash machine, or pay £1.90, to use a local one.
Originally, manager Muddassir Sayed applied to the Bank of Ireland, which works in partnership with Post Office Ltd, for a free-to-use cash machine.
After seeing the initial application rejected, Mr Sayed appealed, citing the benefits the machine would offer residents.
The appeal was successful, but Post Office Ltd refused to approve the Bank of Ireland’s decision to grant permission for a cash machine.
Once Post Office Ltd had given Mr Sayed permission to explore other avenues for getting a free-to-use cash machine, he applied to Bank Machine.
The application was approved and the machine was installed last week, within a month of the application being made.
Mr Sayed, who has worked at the branch for six years, said: “The National Federation of Post Masters suggested getting in touch with The Bank Machine.
“It’s only been in a week, so it’s early stages.
“But up to now it has been really good.
“It will be a really big help for people who live around here, especially elderly people, and mothers with small children.
“Before they had to walk two miles to Tesco, or pay £1.90, to use one of the machines in the area.
“The main reason why I wanted to get it was to help local people.”
Ron Delnevo, Managing Director of Bank Machine said:
“This is an excellent example of a local community working together to campaign for an important cause.
"Bank Machine has been happy to give the campaign our full support, because every community needs access to cash, in the same way as they need water and electricity.
"Without such necessities, life is simply not possible. Since going live, the Bank Machine ATM has been very well used, showing that the people of Intack are really enjoying the benefits of free, local access to cash.”
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