A new self-service mobile top-up machine has been installed in St Peter Port’s Sure store in a bid to reduce queues for customers wanting to top-up their mobile phones.

The installation follows a hugely successful trial which has seen up to 1,000 transactions per day at peak times during the last month, and has led to similar machines being installed in Jersey and the Isle of Man.

Customers can avoid queues in store by inserting cash into the MaxBox to top up their mobiles by £5, £10 and £20. There are plans to increase the machine’s functionality by introducing credit/debit card transactions to allow a greater flexibility in top-up amounts.

There are also plans to expand the availability of the machines to other areas of the islands including airports and pubs.

Hamish Kiernan, Head of Retail for Sure, has seen huge benefits already since the installation of the machines across the islands.

“It was getting to a stage where our customer facing shop staff were being run off their feet at the tills trying to serve customers searching for new contracts and handsets as well as customers who were simply wanting to top up their mobiles. We were more than aware of long queues at peak times and have taken the steps to install self-service machines to ease the burden on both our staff and our customers.”

“The Guernsey store has seen a vast improvement since the installation of the machine just over a month ago and we are delighted that Jersey and the Isle of Man are now offering the same service to our customers.”

The machines also come with a number of other functions which Sure hope to maximise in the future including self-service photo printing and digital downloads for ring tones and games. They are also the only machines in the UK to offer access to all of the major UK mobile networks allowing visitors to the islands to top up their UK mobiles locally.