The poorest families have to pay the highest price to get access to their cash, a new survey has revealed.

Whitehawk, in Brighton, has been identified by the Citizen's Advice Bureau as one of a growing number of "ATM deserts".

In some areas, people are charged as much as £3 to withdraw funds from cashpoints.

Whitehawk residents must pay £1.25 for the Co-operative Bank teller machine at the Co-op store in Whitehawk Road and £1.85 at Videostar in The Broadway.

Nationally, 40 per cent of ATMs - a total of 25,000 - now charge.

Sarah Miller from eb4U, east Brighton's Government-funded regeneration project, said: "When you look at the number of people who live in Whitehawk who do their shopping in the local area and will be withdrawing money there, it's quite high so this is a specific issue in that area."

Mum-of-four Anne Wilson, 40, from Whitehawk, Brighton, is a full-time carer to her daughter. Her husband is unable to work so their annual household income is about £14,000.

She withdraws cash twice a week from Videostar, costing her £192.40 a year. Her bank account has also been overdrawn three times this year, partly because of the extra cost and her bank charges £35 on each occasion. Overall she will have spent at least £300 this year on bank charges.

She said: "It's about time there was a free machine. It's a pain in the neck having to go down to Asda or the hospital. You can't do it when you have got four kids in tow.

"I have to walk and if my legs are bad I can't get out. Then, often they're out of service. It's all right for people with money and cars but I can't afford to get the bus fare into town to get the money."

Duncan Hill, 36, of Rugby Place, Brighton, said: "It's unfair we have to walk so far for a free ATM. I'm quite fit and it takes me a 30-minute round trip to the hospital and 45 minutes to the marina. A lot of people in the area have mobility problems and this makes it really difficult for them."

Fred Netley, 73, of Manor Road, said: "I'm lucky because my daughter takes me shopping every week but I have contact with lots of people and it's a bit of a worry for them.

"We have more than our fair share of people around here who are not so well off. The principle of having to pay to withdraw money is quite outrageous. It's your money that's there and the bank's already making interest on it."

eB4U approached the Co-op but was told it was not economically viable to provide a free service in the Whitehawk store.

Ms Miller said: "Our argument is that the Co-op society operates a strong ethical policy and it's a selling point for them so maybe they should subsidise their ATMs where there's more disadvantage to local people. Paying that money can be the difference between paying one bill or not."

A spokeswoman for Co-operative Financial Services said the cost of providing the service where there was low usage was not viable without levying a fee.

However they are proposing that the whole banking industry drops its charges by having its costs met by members of Link, the cash machine network.

They are also dropping their charges for their own customers and Co-operative Group members.

Citizens Advice Bureau are asking banks and ATM operators to guarantee that no further free cashpoints are lost in deprived areas.

They also want signs improved to show where fees are charged.

They want Link to set up a register of areas where free ATMs are needed and recommend that the Government work with local authorities to encourage them to use council property for free ATMs.

A spokesman for HSBC bank said the company had agreed with Citizens Advice Bureau to install free ATMs in at least ten per cent of the areas identified as being free ATM "deserts" this year.

Last year ATMs hit the headlines when MPs drew up a Commons motion urging the Government to track the growth of fee-charging machines.