The Co-Operative Bank has started to install the first of many “talking cash machines”, which allows users to plug in a headset to hear instructions.
Over 400 of the new ATMs have been put into action today, with over 2,000 of the Co-Ops cash machines to be upgraded by the end of 2014.
The new functionality will be available to all LINK and Visa card holders using the machines, regardless of which bank they’re with, and will of course be of most interest to those who are blind or partially sighted. The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) have been campaigning for this type of ATM previously, and will by encouraged by this move to make cash machines more accessible.
Natwest/RBS have also committed to making the majority of its ATMs speech-enabled over the next few years.