Hundreds Wait In Line As Malfunctioning ATM Spits Out Double Withdrawals
Posted March 21, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
They gathered by the hundreds and waited in line to get their turn. Many called friends on their cell phones and begged them to rush over. What was attracting so many people to a simple supermarket in Hull, England, a city in the northern part of the country?
The answer is an ATM.
Why would an automatic teller machine draw such a big crowd? It’s all because of a malfunction in the device, which was allowing people to withdraw money and giving them double what they asked for. The mistake meant that people who came to take out the maximum limit of $600 would get $1,200 instead – but their accounts would only reflect the lesser amount.
Human nature being what it is, the news quickly spread around town and before the owners of the machine even knew what was happening, customers were coming from miles around to get in on the limited time mistake. “People were calling their mates up and telling them to get down there,” a passer-by told the Hull Daily Mail.
It was organized chaos outside, as hundreds stood in line waiting their turn to get at the broken cash dispenser. Eventually, the inevitable happened and the ATM shut down after running out of money.
And what of all those who took advantage of the situation for their own profit? Local police admit they could face charges – but only if the company that owns the machine decides to file a complaint.
So far, the firm isn’t saying much about what happened beyond the fact that one of their outlets experienced a serious malfunction.
But for a while it give a whole new meaning to the term “cash on demand.”
