News Archive 2025

In Slovakia, businesses are urging customers to use cash to avoid new bank charges. Isn’t it wonderful that this option exists? Without cash being available as an option, banks and card schemes can basically charge what they like. Which is no doubt why, in July 2023, the Slovakian Government took the step of strengthening the constitution to guarantee that the public would have their cash ....

A quote from this article about the award-winning Imperial Garden Chinese Restaurant in Plymouth in Devon: “The decision to only accept cash payments came after the restaurant was twice stung by fraudsters who ran up huge bills and paid via a fraudulent online account. The restaurant ended up unable to collect the money.” The restaurant has no problems with its customers - there are ....

What is shocking about this article is that it has taken so long for The London Standard to notice the rip-off inflicted on cash users who use the London Underground! Overcharging those using cash to buy tube tickets has been going on for many YEARS- now they charge around times the card price to travel one stop using cash. Transport for London has got away with this type of rip-off for two deca....

There’s been a lot of brilliant PR in recent weeks about Banking Hubs. The fact is, however, that the promise to deliver only 350 Banking Hubs by 2029 remains unchanged. Let’s be crystal clear.. Those 350 promised Banking Hubs CANNOT fill the gaps created in community financial services provision by the disappearance of around 8000 bank branches. It was quite wrong for a Government ....

So MORE drivers prefer using cash for their parking than any other payment method BUT councils are still switching car parks to “cashless”? Many people who contact the Payment Choice Alliance to are sick and tired of the preferences - the wishes - of the public being totally ignored. It’s all very well for AA members to suggest drivers boycott “cashless” car parks -....

Kate Osborne is a great supporter of cash, Payment Choice - and Banking Hubs. None of this is surprising. Kates constituency has over 70,000 registered voters, many of whom need or want to use cash. They are part of the huge group of over 40 million voters who are demanding that a UK law is put in place in 2025, to guarantee their right to use their cash, when and where they choose. When it come....

Very interesting study, commissioned by the Deutsche Bundesbank. A quote: “The findings indicate that from the consumer perspective in Germany, the costs of cash and that of the most cost-effective cashless alternative are similar. This means people in Germany can choose between paying in cash or by card depending on their preferences.” Sadly, the final sentence is NOT correct, UNLE....

A quote from this Daily Mirror article: “However, Full Fact clarifies that legally, shops have the right to refuse cash payments, if they choose to do so.” Correct. Which is why, as also reported in the article, the Payment Choice Alliance is calling for new UK legislation obliging shops and other businesses to accept the publics cash. This would give the British public the same gu....

A lady in Selkirk in the Scottish Borders saying she had to travel 10 miles to get cash -a twenty mile round trip. A shopkeeper determined not to be forced to accept cards, even though his customers are struggling to access cash. Only one 24/7 ATM servicing the needs of the town - and, hardly surprisingly, it often runs out of cash. All the towns bank branches and main post office have been clo....

Thanks to Jon Ungoed-Thomas at the Observer for this excellent coverage of the issues - and to Kate Osborne MP for highlighting the impact on her constituents and many others. When PM Keir Starmer is pulling together meetings with his fellow European leaders, as he needs to do frequently in these troubled times, he might reflect on the fact that so many of them have taken steps to compel business....

Wonderful to see charities like Disability Rights UK (DRUK) and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) - and the people they support - speaking out to demand the UK Government introduces legislation to compel businesses to accept cash. There are 16 million people in the UK with some form of disability, so this is definitely not a fringe issue. The British public - including the 16 m....

Sir John Hayes CBE, the MP for South Holland and The Deepings for over 25 years, strongly support's cash and Payment Choice. Sir John pays in cash whenever he can and enjoys visiting the shops in his constituency, rather than giving his business to Amazon. Sir John sees the interaction between residents and local businesses as essential to fostering and maintaining genuine community life. ....

Great coverage of important issues from the Guardian, this time with Rupert Jones producing a first-class analysis of the risk posed to financial and societal inclusion by the increasing domination of smart phones and apps. True Payment Choice means being able to use cash, cards and apps, when and where you choose. And that is what we - ALL OF US - are going to get in the UK, very soon. Source:....

Good to see the Treasury Committee out and about, seeing for themselves the importance of cash and Payment Choice. When did HM Treasury itself last bother to genuinely consult with the public and small traders in the streets and in the markets of the UK? NEVER. Some of the traders speaking to the Treasury Committee in Darlington reported that 90% of their sales continue to be in cash - but this....

What a great quote! “As long as the public still WANT banknotes, we will still provide them” Nick Mclaren, Head of the Future of Money Division, Bank of England That one word - WANT - signifies a great victory for the British public. For years, the future of cash was framed as a diminishing NEED, with the underlying message being that soon cash wouldn’t be NEEDED, given all th....

It was excellent that BBC TV Scotland covered the recent increase in cash use. The PCA Chair Ron Delnevo was very happy to discuss the statistics and stress once again that over 45 MILLION British adults WANT to continue to have the option to use cash. Cash is NOT a fringe issue! Source: youtube.com/watch?v=eakELfDx8DU

The owners of the lovely Dunham Barns tearooms in Cheshire have made an appeal to their customers to use cash to help them survive rising costs.   The Payment Choice Alliance hopes ALL their customers listen to - and act on - this heartfelt appeal.  Use cash - YOU know it makes sense! Source: cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/village-tearooms-makes-heartfelt-cash-309....

There is now no point in trying to stop banks closing their branches. The Which ? Campaign to save such branches has clearly failed. 8000 have been lost in the last decade. The last realistic opportunity to stop bank branch closures was ended at the December 2019 General Election, an election which saw the Labour Party pledge to stop banks closing their branches. They lost - so the banks accel....

Contact foodbanks? Did you ever in your life expect to see this advice for customers who have been let down by a banks IT failures? However, to reassure: “Our ATMs are unaffected by this technical issue so customers can withdraw cash to make payments." Only IF their customers cash is accepted by retailers and other businesses! Emma Reynolds, Economic Secretary to HM Treasury, should be ....

Sweden - another country that knows that legislation is required to protect the status of cash, including universal cash acceptance. Well done to the Sveriges Riksbank for supporting legislation. Let’s see the Bank of England , Payment Systems Regulator and Financial Conduct Authority show a similar regard for the Public Interest as they develop the UK’s National Payments Vision. A....

Another victory, as the campaign against “cashless” gathers strength! Well done to Wakefield Council for putting the Public Interest first - and to Tony Gardner at the BBC for breaking the story. 2025 is going to be a hugely important year for cash and Payment Choice in the UK. By the end of this year, legislation MUST be in place to guarantee the British public can spend their cash....

The Payment Choice Alliance has already sent a letter of welcome and congratulations to Emma Reynolds, the new Economic Secretary to HM Treasury. It was on Emma’s desk when she arrived for her first day in her new role. Emma, who first entered Parliament in 2010, should be a breath of much needed fresh air at 1 Horseguards. In her previous role as Pensions Minister, Emma Reynolds pledged ....

This headline in The Guardian misses the point. Supporters of cash as a Payment Choice are NOT looking for any “crown” to be restored. They simply want to be able to use their cash, when and where they choose. It was Mastercard that announced their “War on Cash” in 2010. Supporters of cash did not reciprocate by declaring a “war” on cards- there are enough wa....

Post Offices still handle only a relatively small percentage of the total cash circulating in the UK. However, their share of the cash market is increasing every year, as bank branches and ATMs disappears. That’s why the Payment Choice Alliance believes the Post Office needs a ten year contract from British banks, guaranteeing revenue for a decade and allowing the Post Office to invest in ....

Good article by Rupert Jones at the The Guardian. But there is no surprise. Nationwide Building Society have kept their branches open and their ATMs operating. The British public - their 17 million customers and everyone else - know they can rely on Nationwide for cash. Cash was not dying of natural causes -the public not wanting to use it; cash was the victim of attempted murder. That is ove....

It’s only the 6th of January and already brilliant news for cash and Payments Choice! The Netherlands's will soon be the latest of the UK’s neighbours - joining Belgium, Denmark, France, Norway and Spain - to give their citizens the legal right to spend their cash, when and where they choose. The mandatory acceptance provision was included in anti-money laundering legislation and....

This is an absolutely shocking story. Britannia Hotels Ltd have apparently decided to inflict “cashless” on customers at some or all of their 53 hotels. At their hotel in Portland Street in Manchester on the 2nd of January 2025, a lady with mobility issues and memory difficulties was refused the right to make a £1.20 payment in cash and initially told her booking would not be h....