Welwyn Garden City, 10 December 2014: As Christmas rapidly approaches, most of us are concentrating on those last minute preparations, the present we forgot to buy and how to get home from the Christmas party. Luckily, one thing you won’t need to worry about is what to do if you run short of gas or electricity over the holidays because you will be able to top up your gas and electricity prepayment meters at the many PayPoint shops that will be open during the festive period.
“Waking up to a cold house and still frozen turkey on Christmas Day need not be a disaster,” says Andrew Goddard, Retail Director of PayPoint UK. “You’ll still be able to top up at many of the 28,000 PayPoints in local newsagents, corner shops, supermarkets and convenience stores over Christmas and New Year when most other shops will be closed.
“Last year, more than 3.9 million people were able to top up their gas and electricity meters at PayPoint over the Christmas and New Year holidays, saving many a family celebration.”
Around half the 28,000 neighbourhood shops in the PayPoint network around the country will be open on Christmas Day, when, last year, 225,000 people topped up their gas or electricity. You will also be able to load up your mobile phone and spend your Christmas money online by putting it onto prepaid cards and e-money vouchers at your local PayPoint.
“With our nationwide network, almost everyone has a handy PayPoint which will be open when other places they might usually use will be closed. PayPoint retailers are at the heart of their communities, providing a local service to their customers when no-one else is there for them,” adds Andrew Goddard.
PayPoint outlets are identified by the distinctive yellow and blue PayPoint logo outside the shops – you can use any of them to make your payments – and if the shop you usually use is closed, you can find another close by at http://www.paypoint.co.uk. The PayPoint service is free to consumers.
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Enquiries:
Peter Brooker
Head of Corporate Affairs
01707 600356 / 07900 418960
[email protected]
PayPoint Press Office
Karla Winch / Cathy Donald, Brands2Life
020 7592 1200 / 07940 422 931 / 07793 287 749
[email protected]
ABOUT PAYPOINT
PayPoint is a leading international provider of convenient payments and value added services to major consumer service organisations in the utility, housing, water, telecoms, media, financial services, transport, retail, e-commerce and public sectors.
PayPoint handles almost £15 billion from almost 785 million transactions annually. Its retail network in the UK numbers over 28,000 local shops, including Co-op, Spar, McColls, Costcutter, Sainsbury’s Local, One Stop, Londis and thousands of independents. Because most PayPoints are mostly in local convenience stores, including garage forecourts and newsagents, they are usually open from early morning until late evening.
PayPoint also operates an ATM network of more than 3,750 ‘LINK’ branded machines across the UK, mainly in the same sites as PayPoint terminals. Many of its ATMs are speech-enabled for the visually impaired.