A blind man has triumphed in a David and Goliath-style battle with a major High Street bank.


Mark Ellis argued he was being discriminated against because he could not use cash machines without assistance.


Now, after an 18 month campaign, he has persuaded the Co-operative bank to install talking ATMs at banks across the country.


Mr Ellis, 48, has a rare genetic condition called Laurence Moon Bardet Biedl syndrome.
The degenerative condition meant he became partially-sighted when he was nine and lost his sight at 18.


Now Mr Ellis, of Victor Road, Colchester, said: “Every ATM is different so if you want to use one and can’t read the prompts, you have to have someone with you.


“I used to try to do it on my own and listen to the beeps but when you get three questions wrong, you lose your card.

“It was discrimination against blind people who could not access their money.
“I wrote a letter of complaint to the Co-op but, to be honest, it fell on deaf ears at first.
“Then the Royal National Institute for the Blind helped me.

“It wasn’t easy. They said it was not on their agenda but to be fair, they did listen.”
 

More than 600 talking machines have now gone live and the bank intends to  launch more than 1,000 ATMs by the end of the year with a further 1,000 planned for next year.