The Post Office has reported an all-time record for personal cash withdrawals within a single day leading up to Christmas.
On Friday, December 22, some £62.4million was taken out by customers over the counter - the highest amount ever taken out on a single day, the Post Office said.
This figure beats the previous record from last Christmas by more than £10million when £51.5million was withdrawn over the counter on December 23, 2022.
Around £800,000 in cash was withdrawn on Christmas Day itself with 16 cheques being deposited on December 25 by personal customers.
Post Office sees record amount of cash withdrawn
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Some £1.1million was deposited by personal customers at the Post Office, while £1.06million was deposited by business customers over the counter.
Overall, £3million in cash was deposited and withdrawn by Britons on Christmas Day this year which is a sharp rise to £2.3million on Christmas Day 2022.
Through the Post Office, Britons can access their money for free and businesses have a secure place to deposit cash takings.
Ross Borkett, the Post Office’s head of Banking, said: “Our Postmasters know that millions of people rely on being able to access cash every day at their local Post Office and it’s no different on Christmas Day.
“For some people, being able to withdraw cash for free helped them to finish last-minute shopping for the big day, for others it may have been a last-minute gift.
“Business cash deposits being made on Christmas Day indicate just how vital it is that pub and restaurant owners have somewhere open and convenient to deposit their much-needed Christmas cash takings ahead of a quieter January.”
On Christmas Day this year, there were around 1,500 Post Office branches which were operating services for customers.
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POST OFFICEThese were predominantly operated by independent Postmasters and located in places such as convenience stores.
As it stands, Post Office has 11,500 branches across the country and usually has around 4,000 branches open on weekends.
Post Offices usually deal with around £3.3billion worth of cash when it comes to withdrawals and deposits every month.