LINK has revealed that it will try to obtain £3 million from banks and building societies early next year after the high level of demand for free to use ATMs across 230 areas in Scotland.

This news arrives only two weeks after it was revealed that every week, 10 free-to-use ATMs have continued to shut down in Scotland in the last year, The Herald reports.

LINK assured the public that if a high street were threatened with the loss of a cash machine or Post Office, it would intervene to ensure that an ATM would be made available and paid for with funding from all the UK’s main banks and building societies.

In October, LINK invited consumers and community groups to submit requests for an ATM through the Community Access to Cash Delivery Fund.

A sum of £1m was initially set aside to support the fund and this was enough to install 50 machines in various communities.

However, LINK has said that while an unquantifiable amount of requests may be impractical to act upon, the cash machine provider will have to secure a further £3m from banks and building societies early in 2020 to deal with the demand.