Chris

I'm not sure this is true, although my experience is a little limited. As a Barclays customer I've always had free use of ATMs operated by Lloyds/TSB, Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank of Scotland, so I've never had to look far to find a free ATM. It's also worth remembering which banks and building societies make a policy of not charging - Nationwide, for example.

I think what's created the illusion of ATMs no longer being free is that most new ones these days are being installed by finance companies that do charge for their use. This means that the oevrall percentage of free ATMs has dropped, but the reason for it is not more bank charges, just new suppliers in the market who charge.

IIRC when Barclays finally joined the Link ATM network a couple of years ago, they tried to use their muscle to introduce charging but it backfired on them so badly with negative publicity, they backed down.