Faulty cash machine is 'hitting Old Colwyn trade'

Oct 29 2009 by Richard Evans, North Wales Weekly News

A FAULTY cash machine is costing businesses say angry traders.

The HSBC machine on Cefn Road in Old Colwyn is repeatedly breaking down or not issuing cash on request.

Old Colwyn councillor Cheryl Carlisle said: “The cash machine is faulty all the time, it is either not working or it is saying it is handing out money when it hasn’t and people are having to wait until the next day to be recredited,” said Cllr Carlisle.

“It is causing extreme problems to people on low incomes and shopkeepers, if people can’t get cash out they won’t spend in Old Colwyn they will go to Colwyn Bay. I have contacted HSBC weeks ago but they still haven’t fixed it.

“It is making life difficult for young mums trying to get their shopping. The cash machine is also low rise so disabled people use it.

“It has been going on four or five weeks and is completely unacceptable. When they closed the bank we fought hard to keep the machine.”

Andrew Tate runs the Restyle Gift Shop next door to the cash machine and said its unreliability was costing businesses.

“A lot of people come into the shop choose something, say they are going to the cash machine and it isn’t working,” he said.

“Nine out of 10 times people go there and find they can’t get cash.”

Ian Randle has run Randle’s Cafe on Cefn Road for the past 14 years and agreed: “I’ve heard numerous customers of ours complain about the cash machine.

“I think the cash machine is an asset to the street, but it is either faulty or empty.”

Gary Conway runs Conway Butchers of Old Colwyn, also on the corner of Cefn Road: “The locals have been in complaining about it – I told one lady to pay next time she was in because she couldn’t get cash.”

A spokeswoman for HSBC said: “All of our cash machines are serviced on regular basis to ensure that our customers receive an efficient service.”

“We are aware that occasionally the machines do go wrong and we make every effort to get them up and running to minimise any potential disruption to our customers. We will continue to ensure that we respond to any re-curing problems. .”