Cash in Broadford: Houston – we have a problem!

BY MICHAEL RUSSELL

An American company that operates 300,000 cash machines around the world was due to fix the one in Broadford on Skye this week.

Houston-based firm Cardtronics told the Free Press that the only ATM in the village, at the local Co-op store, had been out of action for several weeks because “new parts for the machine needed to be ordered in”.

A spokeswoman from their PR representatives in London said the cash machine was due to be fixed this week. However, no firm date could be given.

Last week, Hamish Fraser (pictured above), chairman of Broadford and Strath Community Council, said residents were “sick and tired of being fobbed off” by Cardtronics, as the village has been without 24-hour access to ready cash since mid-September.

“These companies need named and shamed because we have seen so many broken promises from them,” he added. “The Co-op are very unhappy with this situation but there is only so much they can do as they don’t own the cash machine. Companies like Cardtronics have a very cavalier attitude to the service they give rural areas. It’s one excuse after another with companies like that.”

Cardtronics’ main market is the US and Canada, but it’s next biggest is the UK, where it operates 18,000 machines, more than any other provider. The company also operates in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Germany.