Bank customers were celebrating victory last night in the long-running battle over cash machine fees.

Three major banks bowed to public pressure and announced they were abandoning plans to charge for the use of the ATM machines from January 1.

First HSBC, then Barclays and finally Lloyds TSB yesterday joined the overwhelming majority of financial groups which have said they will abolish all cash machine charges by the end of the year.

The decision has been hailed as a triumph by consumer groups and long-standing campaigners against ATM charges.

There are now only a handful of financial groups which are not yet committed to scrapping charges.

They are Northern Rock, Yorkshire Bank, Woolwich, Alliance & Leicester and HFC.

Last night, Ron Stout, Northern Rock's PR manager, said: "The pressure is on smaller players like us to follow suit."

Now the vast majority of the Link network's 28,000 machines will be fee-free from the start of next year.

HSBC currently charges its own customers a £1 "disloyalty" fee when they use other banks' ATMs.

This will be scrapped from the start of next year and HSBC has also pledged there will be no charges for non-customers using its machines from January 1.

Barclays does not charge a disloyalty fee, but had until now planned to levy a charge, estimated at about £1, for non-customers using its machines from January 1.

It has now backed down on plans to do this.

Lloyds TSB currently charges its own customers a "disloyalty" fee of £1.50 for using other banks' machines.

It was planning to replace this from January 1 with a 50p fee for non-customers using its machines, but it has now fallen into line with the other big banks and abolished all planned charges.

Barclays had originally led the campaign to allow members of the Link network to charge non-customers for using their machines from January 1.

But as opposition to the planned charges hardened, an increasing number of Link members switched to the non-charging camp.

They included Halifax Group, Abbey National, NatWest Bank and, earlier yesterday HSBC, leaving Barclays and Lloyds TSB increasingly isolated before they too capitulated to public pressure.

Barclays' announcement will be welcomed by the financial groups, which have consistently campaigned against cash machine chargers.

They include Nationwide Building Society, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland, Co-operative Bank, Yorkshire Building Society and Tesco Personal Finance.

They all announced they would not be charging their own customers or other banks' customers for using cash machines.

The battle reached a climax this February when Link members agreed to allow surcharging of non-customers using ATMs from January 1.

But as anger at the prospect of widespread ATM charges grew, more and more groups joined the ranks of the non-chargers.

A Nationwide spokesman said yesterday: "We welcome Barclays' decision, and that of HSBC and Lloyds TSB. We have never believed that it was right for people to have to pay to withdraw their own money from a cash machine."

A Consumers' Association spokeswoman said: "This is a major victory for consumers. We're delighted that Barclays and Lloyds TSB have bowed to consumer pressure.

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