The Conservative Cave
The Bar => The Lounge => Topic started by: bijou on May 20, 2010, 11:28:56 AM
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The next time some twit tells you banks are useless, you might mention John Shepherd-Barron OBE, the man who invented the automatic teller machine (ATM).
He died at the weekend, aged 84, with little fanfare but did more than most to change the British high street and the way we handle money. Before his invention bank customers could only access their cash by queuing up in the branch between 9am and 3pm, Monday to Saturday, bank holidays excepted.
Now there are 63,000 ATMs in Britain and 1.8m worldwide. Nearly all of those in Britain are part of the LINK system, which – among many other functions - provides an online locator so you can find the nearest ‘hole in the wall’ wherever you are.
Despite controversy about ATMs in pubs, clubs and garage forecourts which charge for cash, LINK says two thirds of its machines are free and 97 per cent of withdrawals are made on that basis.
The first ATM was installed at Barclays’ Enfield branch in London on June 27, 1967. Reg Varney star of the TV comedy On The Buses was the first person to withdraw cash. ...
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ianmcowie/100005785/atm-inventor-makes-final-withdrawal/
RIP to someone who changed our lives in a good way.
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Too bad he didn't have overdraft protection.
Evil, I know.
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Too bad he didn't have overdraft protection.
Evil, I know.
Mean man :tongue:
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He cashed out. RIP.