Double your money at cash machine

THE people of Wooler will always remember the night their cash machine brought them unexpected good fortune. Villagers using the Barclays machine were delighted to find it was paying out double the amount asked for.

As word of the 'free' cash bonanza spread, the queue filled the length of the High Street as people from neighbouring villages flocked to the scene.

One woman even arrived at the scene in her nightdress and queued in her curlers.

The cash machine in the Northumberland village is thought to have paid out £65,000 before Barclays put a stop to its largesse.

'It was the talk of the village,' said one pub landlady, who did not want to be named. 'They were saying, Have you heard about the cash machine - it's paying out double.

' This is a great place for rumours, and it wasn't long before everybody knew about it. It was the busiest night in Wooler for years.'

She said the cash machine had attracted swarms of people from the neighbouring communities of Powburn, Millfield and Lowick all eager to double their money.

The dash for cash began last Wednesday at around 9pm when it is thought staff from Securicor wrongly loaded the cash machine with £20 notes in a cassette intended for £10 notes.

Regulars at the local pubs took advantage of the error - and then returned again after midnight to repeat the trick as it was a new banking day.

Yesterday there was relief in Wooler (population 2,000) that the bank is not going to try to reclaim the cash paid out wrongly.

Barclays said the mistake was a 'third-party error'.

A spokesman added: '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 our money back.

'Our policy is that we will get back to whoever caused the error in the first place and ask them to compensate us for the loss.'

editor@thisismoney.co.uk