Six months after thieves ramraided a Spar shop in Crowland and took off with the town’s only ATM machine, residents finally have a new hole in the wall to access their cash.
Within seconds of the ATM at the store in North Street going live on Tuesday, local people were lining up to use it.
First was Nigel Foster, of Peterborough Road. He said: “I’ve been going to Deeping to get my cash. It’s great it’s is back up again.”
Next in line Melanie Wren, of Thorney Road, said: “I kept coming anyway and forgetting it wasn’t here until I got to the Post Office. Now I can get my money any time.”
The stolen ATM was removed from the wall of the of the shop on October 5 last year by three offenders using a yellow JCB, causing considerable damage.
At the time police believed the JCB may have been stolen from a nearby farm, but the culprits have never been found.
Stephanie Lamb, manager of the store’s post office, remembers being woken about the incident. She said: “I was called at 1am in the morning. When I went down and saw what had been done I was horrified. No-one expects that sort of thing to happen in Crowland.
“It’s been a strain providing local people with the money they need from the post office and there have been times when we’ve had to ration the amount we count give them.
But now the pressures off us and people can get their money when they need it so everyone should be happy again.”
Deterrents have been put in place to prevent any future attempts to steal this one. A Post Office manager there for the ATM going live, said: “We’ve installed individual casette protection that will ink cash if attempts are made to steal it.”