News

UK ATM users quick on the withdraw when it comes to extra cash

April 29, 2004

LONDON - Apparent errors loading cash into ATM cassettes led to two separate windfalls for UK cardholders last week.

According to a Daily Telegraph report, residents of Wooler, a small village in northeastern England, began lining up after it became obvious that a drawer for £10 (U.S. $17.78) notes had been wrongly loaded with 20s.

The Telegraph reported that one woman even arrived in a taxi, still in her nightdress and curlers, and quoted the landlady of the village's local pub as calling it "the busiest night in Wooler for years."

By the time the bank re-opened the next day, the Telegraph reported, £65,000 (U.S. $115,600) had been withdrawn. 

ATM owner Barclays announced that it will not require customers to return their extra cash.

"We know who took money out of the ATM, but can't pinpoint which ones have had too much money so we won't be asking for the money back," a spokesman for the bank said.

In the other incident, the Guardian reported, shoppers at Tesco Express in North Cheam formed a queue at the ATM on April 25 after it dispensed £20 (U.S. $35.57) instead of £10 notes.

Staff at the were quickly alerted to the error after the line of customers built up outside the Royal Bank of Scotland ATM.

The machine, which was later taken out of service, reportedly issued up to £15,000 (U.S. $26,678) over a five-hour period.

A spokesman for Tesco Personal Finance, which is leading an investigation into the incident, was unable to confirm or deny the figure but said customers were not able to use the ATM for that length of time.

"Due to an error in filling the machine, it was giving out £20 notes when it should have been giving out £10 ones," he said in the Guardianreport. "As soon as we realized we took the machine out of service but quite a few people had made transactions on it."

He added a review would be carried out of the transactions made by customers while the machine was malfunctioning, and the company was within its rights to ask for unauthorized sums of money to be repaid.