A Tempo businessman has spoken of his anger after he was hit with a rates bill for more than £8,000 for having a cash machine outside his shop.

It comes after retailers lost a key legal battle almost two years ago over a controversial decision that cash machines built into the front of a shop or petrol station should have a separate business rates bill.

It’s understood that only now have bills been sent to thousands of retailers backdated to the start of the last tax regime in 2017.

Ruairi McKeagney, who runs Spar in Tempo, said he received the bill “out of the blue” and now fears that having a free cash machine for the public is “no longer sustainable”.

“The impact that this is going to have on communities is incredible. I was shocked to receive a bill that was not anticipated and was not in our budget.

“It is an exceptional bill that we were not expecting and will have a knock-on effect on our business,” he told The Impartial Reporter yesterday (Wednesday).

Following agreement by the now defunct Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016 an extension to the popular rate relief scheme, exemption for ATMs in rural areas was passed. The ATM exemption scheme was introduced with the objective of encouraging and sustaining the provision of ATMs in rural areas. But with no functioning government that scheme is no longer in place.

The then Social Development Minister Mervyn Storey is quoted at the time as saying: “ATMs play an important role in the sustainability of rural economies.”

He explained that research has shown that for every £10 withdrawn from one of these cash machines, almost two thirds is likely to be spent locally.

“By extending the scheme we can help to ensure that ATMs are retained in rural areas, providing greater access and support to these communities,” he said.

But not anymore, it would seem, as Mr. McKeagney explained: “The ATM is deemed a rateable property, it’s based on rental value of property. This rates bill is more I receive in commission on the machine."

"Therefore, that cancels out any rentable value so how can there even be any rates if there is no rental value?

“This will have a detrimental effect on the community; it is the further diminishing of local services when you consider how many banks have closed, how many post offices have changed, and other reductions of local services in local communities.

“Upon completion of our contract with the ATM provider the ATM in Tempo will have to close as it’s no longer sustainable,” he told this newspaper.