Sainsbury has paired up with the Nationwide Building Society to attack cash machine operators who charge customers to withdraw cash from their machines.

Sainsbury, which operates 340 cash machines, said this year customers would pay more than £40m in charges, before they have even touched their money, according to their new study. There are about 11,000 machines in the UK that charge customers £1.25 or £1.50.

Chief executive of Sainsbury’s Bank, Tim Pile, said: “We believe it should be made absolutely clear that the ATM carries a surcharge before customers start using the machine.”