8:47am UK, Wednesday June 27, 2007

The cash machine is celebrating its 40th birthday - after going from humble beginnings to establish itself firmly on the high streets of Britain. 

First inspired by a chocolate vending machine, there are now more than 60,000 across the UK, enabling customers to withdraw £180bn a year.

180 cash machine cashpoint bank money

Humble start, now essential service

The first opened on June 27 1967, outside a branch of Barclays bank in Enfield, north London.

Comedy actor Reg Varney made the first transaction, withdrawing a £10 note in front of the small crowd that had gathered to witness the event.

By the end of the decade there were 781 cash machines across the world, with 595 in the UK alone.

The global figure has now grown to around 1.64 million, dispensing cash of all currencies.

The reach of ATM has even gone as far as the South Pole - a machine at the remote McMurdo station serves a small permanent team of Antarctic scientists.

The inventor of the cash machine, John Shepherd Barron, said he struck upon the concept after being confronted with a shut door at his local bank.

Mr Shepherd Barron said: "I remember back in 1965 that I would always take money out of my bank on a Saturday morning.

"However, one Saturday I was one minute late at my bank and it was closed. I had to ask my local garage to cash my cheque.

"That night I started thinking that there must be a better way to get cash when I wanted it."

In recent years the number of services that can be performed by a cash machine has grown, with consumers now able to check balances, order statements, pay bills and top up their mobile phones.

The total number of machines in existence around the world is expected to hit two million by 2010.