Fowey is one of many small towns throughout the country which would be hit if the big banks carry out their plans to charge for cash machines.

Under the new bank rules customers using a machine which is not owned by their particular bank, but which is in an area with just one machine, will have to pay to withdraw their cash.

Fowey falls into an area with between 10,000 and 50,000 residents which only has a single machine.

The chief executive of market strategy company GMAP, Professor Martin Clarke, said that people living in rural areas will be among those worst affected.

Nearly 750 villages in Great Britain have only one withdrawal machine, together with 153 small towns and 222 suburbs.