Finding a free-to-use cash machine in Sheffield could be about to get a lot harder

The Link board, which operates 70,000 cash machines, are putting the proposals forward in a bid to overhaul the system.

There are currently 55,000 cash machines which do not charge users to withdraw money, but hundreds of these could be closed under the new proposals.

The news comes as fewer and fewer people are using cash machines, with the cost of running the network now a around £1 billion and some members are concerned the costs are becoming too high.

Link is set to put forward plans on Wednesday which would greatly reduce the number of free machines, as reported by the Guardian.

The proposals have been drawn up after a working group, set up in the wake of the simmering row which erupted in January, failed to reach an agreement.

John Howells, chief executive of Link, said the number of cash machines had gone up at a time when the usage had gone down.

Earlier this year, UK Finance revealed that 40 per cent of all payments in the UK were now made in cash compared to 62 per cent in 2006.

Although the Bank of England has said that in 2016 the value of notes in circulation increased by 10% and around 2.7 million people in the UK rely almost entirely on cash.

A spokeswoman for Link told The Sun Online that any cuts to cash machines would likely be in areas where there are multiple ATMs already.