COUNCIL chiefs pressing ahead with plans to shut a cash office today insisted: The public will not suffer.
They claimed that people who use the Huddersfield Cash Office to pay bills will find the new automated machines very easy to use.
Payment kiosks, which have been operating successfully in Birstall for several years, will be brought into Huddersfield Civic Centre.
They are designed to take cash and card payments and provide the same service currently provided by the cashiers. The service will be in the same location and open for the same number of hours each week.
And a council spokesman said staff would be on hand to answer customer inquiries.
Currently the average automated transaction is £61 and the time taken to complete a payment can range from 30 seconds for someone familiar with the process, to two minutes or more. Cashiers take about 90 seconds to process payments.
Kirklees Council leader Clr Mehboob Khan said: “The proposed service automation should not cause problems for people using the current cash office.
“Most people these days are well used to using cash machines and will adapt quickly to new methods of paying their council bills.
“It is not true that customers using the new kiosks will have to pay bank charges.”
