Fee free cash machine for Kensington and Fairfield at last!

Great news! It is finally sorted!

My press release is below and we got a little bit of coverage in the Echo today

A fee free cash machine is finally coming to the Kensington and Fairfield area after a five year campaign.

Luciana Berger MP and local Labour Councillor Louise Baldock were celebrating today at the news that a new Tesco Express store, due to be opened in the new district centre on Prescot Road, Fairfield very soon, will be supporting a fee free cash machine.

Louise Baldock said “It is five years this month since our campaign was launched for a fee free cash machine for Kensington and Fairfield. Five long years in an area with no banks, where local people have had to pay £1.75 each time they take their own cash from one of many machines in our area. People on low incomes often wish only to withdraw £10 or £20 at a time, and are paying between 9-18% in charges. This new fee-free machine in the heart of the ward is extremely welcome and I know it will make a huge difference to people’s budgets and house-keeping.”

Luciana Berger MP said “We have been in discussions with Tesco about the vital importance of fee free cash machines for local people and I am absolutely delighted that they have agreed to provide this wonderful facility in their new store. My mailbag has been full with letters from residents in the Kensington and Fairfield area, desperate for the same advantages that others enjoy. And as a local resident myself, I know what a difference this will make.”

Matt Magee, Corporate Affairs Manager at Tesco said “We pride ourselves in meeting the needs of the community and giving customers what they want. When we heard about the need for a free cash machine we just had to put one in. When it opens, the store will create around 20 new jobs and will bring great value, fresh food to the area.”

ENDS

Notes to the Editor

1. Every survey that the Labour Party has carried out in the area since November 2005 has highlighted the need for a fee free cash machine
2. The last bank (Midland I think, did that become HSBC?) closed on Kensington in around 2005, it is now the New Holt pub
3. There is a fee free machine at the petrol station in front of the Devonshire House Hotel on Edge Lane but that is not suitable for footfall
4. Every “Your Community Matters” event over the last two years has raised the need for a fee free cash machine
5. Machines in the area currently charge from £1.70 to £1.80 per transaction, there are at least a dozen, mainly in off-licences and newsagents and corner shops
6. Councillor Baldock has previously contacted several banks and several stores in a bid to persuade them of the need to fit one, we even had a promise of a fee free machine from a firm who usually charge for transactions, as a gesture of goodwill under their CSR policy, but we could not find a store willing to take one – they enjoy commission from fee paying machines.