SWINDON'S Nationwide Building Society has launched another broadside against cash machine operators who charge people to withdraw their own money from their machines.

Firms that levy a charge of up to £1.75 on cardholders to take out cash were under fire earlier in the year when they faced a grilling from MPs on a Treasury select committee.

Nationwide has always said it will not charge people to use cashpoints, even if they are not attached to building society branches such as those on the Post Office in Victoria Road, Old Town, and at the railway station.

Yesterday it was announced that fee-charging operator Moneybox's profits were improving after a lull earlier in the year. Peter McNamara, its chief executive, has been quoted as saying that once the media coverage abated the number of transactions would go up.

But Nationwide's executive director Stuart Bernau, pictured, said: "Moneybox appears to be admitting that cash machine charges are unpopular and that when given information on the matter, consumers avoid paying to access their own cash.

"This backs what Nationwide has long been saying: that ATM charges are unpopular and that clearer warnings of charges are needed so that consumers can make an informed choice."

Moneybox, which has 2,400 cash dispensers in pubs and shops in the UK, said transactions showed signs of recovery in April compared with levels seen in previous months.

Research by Nationwide found that a third of cash machines charged an average cost of £1.50.

Among campaigners' demands are a cap on charges and a code of practice, including prominent and clear warnings on fee-charging dispensers. The number of fee-charging machines has grown from none in 1999 to almost 20,000 today equating to 40 per cent of the UK's cash machine network.

Peter McNamara, executive chairman of Moneybox, said consumers were paying a fee for the convenience of withdrawing money. Trading has suffered from the storm of criticism and the need to upgrade dispensers to accept "chip and pin" cards, but he said in March that transactions should improve when the issue falls out of the media spotlight. Mr McNamara said: "I am pleased to report confidence is being borne out with a good recovery in our daily transaction rate experienced in April compared to those levels achieved over recent months."