Inventor of ‘hole in the wall’ dies
THE man who invented the hole-in-the-wall cash dispenser has died.
John Shepherd-Barron also came up with the idea for a four-digit Pin number, transforming the way the world manages its money.
He was made an OBE for services to banking in 2005.
The 84-year-old inventor, from Portmahomack near Tain in the Highlands, died in hospital in Inverness on Saturday after a short illness.
Mr Shepherd-Barron devised the cashpoint machine while in the bath.
He had arrived at his bank too late, and wondered why banks couldn’t operate a system more like chocolate-vending machines.
The first dispenser was installed at Barclays Enfield branch in London on June 27, 1967. There are now nearly 2million worldwide.
The Pin number was a by-product of his invention.
He realised he could still remember his six-figure Army number, and decided to test his wife Caroline’s memory.
She could only recall four digits, so that became the world standard.
Mr Shepherd-Barron was still inventing in his 80s, including a device that played killer whale noises to scare seals.
In 2007, he was presented with a lifetime achievement award by the international ATM Industry Association in America.
Mr Shepherd-Barron is survived by his wife, three sons, Nicholas, James and Andrew, and six grandchildren.
The funeral will be in Tain tomorrow.