One man is leading a campaign to restore cash as an option for people visiting major institutions and attractions in Greater Manchester.
(Image: Surrey Advertiser)
My local chippy sells melt-in-the-mouth haddock and it is always worth queuing, even when standing outside in winter. But I noticed earlier this year a sign on the side of the counter.
It asks customers to pay with cash if possible so that the business does not lose out having to pay card processing fees. From observing others buying their supper it appears many are happy to do so.
The use of cards for everything, from shopping to clicking in and out on the Metrolink, and paying in bars and restaurants is now dominant. The last time I used cash was at a wonderfully archaic car park on the North East coast which only took coinage in the machine – by luck I had three pound coins which have been nestled in a well in front of the gear stick of my car for about a year.
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But one man is leading a campaign to restore cash as an option for people visiting major institutions and attractions in Greater Manchester.
Steve Speakman, chairman of the Manchester Civic Society, may be viewed as a Luddite by some, trying to hold back the inevitable cashless society, but he is having success.
The Imperial War Museum North on Trafford Wharf Road, Trafford.(Image: Manchester Evening News)
He has already persuaded Manchester Royal Infirmary, The Lowry art centre in Salford, Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Manchester’s Whitworth Gallery, The Imperial War Museum North, and Manchester Museum to return cash as an option.
He has others in his sights, including The Palace Theatre on Oxford Road in Manchester.
He argues there are sound reasons for his Society’s determined campaigning. “We started to get approached by people who couldn’t function in the civicscape because there was no physical cash option.
“One case was a chap whose wife was very ill, and subsequently died. She was being cared for in Stepping Hill Hospital and he was visiting her every day. But he has learning difficulties and couldn’t get a cup of tea or a meal at the café or anything from the shop because it was all cashless.
The Lowry theatre and arts centre in Salford(Image: Manchester Evening News)
“I took that up, just as I did with Manchester Royal Infirmary and got both of them back to cash acceptance. I put the case that they were excluding a variety of people, not only sight challenged, those with learning disabilities, or the elderly, but those who use cash to keep any eye on their spending.
“To be fair both hospitals saw the light and brought back physical cash. In some cases it was achieved easily, in others I had to get local councillors involved.
“We got Manchester Museum back, and that was an entirely cashless operation, and The Lowry, and the Whitworth Art Gallery. In all these places I was bowled over by the fact that staff, often, young people, desperately wanted to see cash back. They told me they were sick of turning people away, which can be hard to do, and secondly their tips all but disappeared.
“A young woman in charge of the cafe at the Whitworth stopped me as I was eating and said ‘we wish you every success, we want cash back’.
Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport (Image: Copyright Unknown)
“When I went to Buxton Pavilion Gardens, a place I had to fight quite hard to get back cash in the cafe, bar, and shop, a young fella came out from behind the counter in the cafe and said “I want to shake your hand matey, our tips have gone through the roof’.
“My motivation as well is that if we lose cash we will be danced like a puppet on a string. Because once corporate entities get the sole means to use cards then the fees on the cards will go up and that will be reflected in increased prices.
“I was contacted the other day by a young man who said the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford doesn’t take any cash. I have been in touch with them, but I have passed it to the Payment Choice Alliance who gave evidence to an all-party parliamentary committee on this issue.
The Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester (Image: PA)
“One venue which I have written to again recently is The Palace Theatre in Manchester. They are part of a nationwide theatre group. I have spoken to them again as I am pushing very hard on it.
“A lady in her 80s came to me at one of our Civic Society events and said she used to go to The Palace regularly and hadn’t been for five years because she did not have a card.”
In a letter to the Palace sent last week Steve says: “It cannot be right that organisations that receive public funding such as your theatre group does, can be precluding cash paying members of the public many of whom pay tax.”
Steve Speakman, chairman of the Manchester Civic Society, which is campaigning to get the option of paying with cash re-introduced at institutions across the region.
He recently went on a trip to Harrogate and couldn’t resist locking horns with North Yorkshire Council. “There are coach loads of people visiting Harrogate and one of the main attractions is the Royal Pump Room Museum. I visited and a woman at the entrance opened an empty till saying she was so frustrated at turning away elderly people who did ot have bank cards.”
At the suggestion that he is a Luddite, Steve says: “If you look to France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Norway, they have all passed payment choice legislation. If you went to a bar in Paris and they turned you down because you wanted to pay in cash they could be fined. That is all recent legislation in the last few years.
“I would like to see that in the UK. Also, I was in Sainsbury’s and their systems had gone down, and they had to rely on cash only payments. In the end a cashless society is very vulnerable strategically – you need the choice to use cash.
“Hotels can be the same. I went into one in Stockport and the staff agreed with me saying they thought it was totally wrong.
“It has been noticed that an alarming number of businesses are not accepting cash as a payment method and as a Civic Society we are very concerned. The loss of the facility to use cash discriminates against many older, disabled, vulnerable people and young children who do not have access to electronic currency.
“As well as shops, cafe’s and hospitals, heritage venues and museums risk turning visitors away if they cannot accept cash.”
Steve has also raised with councils the issue of car parks no longer taking cash.
In a recent YouGov survey, 73 percent of respondents felt that shops should be required by law to accept cash payments.
After speaking to staff at many businesses and organisations Steve said some had been subjected to anger and abuse when explaining cash was not accepted.
Steve, 72, a retired supply teacher and Manchester City Council housing officer, said: “All of us should be wary of losing physical cash as it is a last bastion of privacy in the world of finance. Our campaign will continue and we will be in contact with local M.P.’s seeking support. As this is a national issue we hope to add our voice to many others up and down the country to help protect cash.”
The Palace Theatre declined to comment.