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People stand in the queue to get the double windfall
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Once the word was out, there was no stopping them. A British cash machine became a big hit this week after it started paying out twice as much money as it should.
The ATM, outside a supermarket in the city of Hull in northern England, began spewing out double the money Tuesday afternoon and continued doing so for several hours, drawing a crowd of hundreds eager to cash in on the mistake.
At one stage, the queue for the cash machine was a 100-strong - with many making multiple withdrawals.
"They were walking away with huge wads of cash and big smiles on their faces," said a witness.
"And people were calling their mates up and telling them to get down there."
The crowd began gathering at the store in Hull at around 5pm on Tuesday and finally dispersed at 8pm when the faulty ATM ran out of notes.
One man, who did not wish to be named, said: "I was driving past when I saw a huge queue at the cash machine.
"I parked up and learned that it was paying out double. I joined the queue and when I finally got to the front, I drew out ￡200, but it gave me ￡400.
"The statement said I only drew out ￡200. I don't know whether I will have to pay it back."
Payzone, a company that administers ATMs, would not comment in detail on the incident but said it appeared one of its machines had malfunctioned.
Police said those who had benefited could face charges but only if the operator complained.
Most debit cards have a daily cash withdrawal limit of ￡300 - meaning that those lucky enough to use the haywire machine were able to take out a maximum of ￡600.
(Agencies)
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“說出去的話就像潑出去的水。”英國的一臺(tái)自動(dòng)取款機(jī)在本周可是大受歡迎，因?yàn)槿藗兛稍谶@臺(tái)提款機(jī)上取到雙倍的錢。
這臺(tái)提款機(jī)位于英格蘭北部城市赫爾的一家超市外，它于本周二下午出現(xiàn)“雙倍吐錢”故障，并持續(xù)了數(shù)小時(shí)，這一消息傳出后，數(shù)百人都跑來“撿便宜”。
排隊(duì)取款的人數(shù)一度達(dá)到一百多人——很多人還取了好幾次。
一位目擊者說：“取到錢的人都滿臉笑容地拿著一大疊錢走了。”
“還有人打電話給丈夫或妻子，讓他們來取錢。”
當(dāng)天下午5點(diǎn)左右，這家超市外開始排起了長隊(duì)，直到晚上8點(diǎn)提款機(jī)“彈盡糧絕”，排隊(duì)的人才散去。
一名不愿透露姓名的男子說：“我開車路過這里時(shí)，看到提款機(jī)前有很多人在排隊(duì)。”
“我停了車，得知提款機(jī)正雙倍吐錢，于是我也去排隊(duì)，輪到我時(shí)，我本來是要取200英鎊，結(jié)果出來了400英鎊。”
“可取款單上寫的是200英鎊，我不知道是不是應(yīng)該返還多給的錢。”
專門管理自動(dòng)提款機(jī)的Payzone公司拒絕對(duì)此事發(fā)表詳細(xì)評(píng)論，但稱這是提款機(jī)發(fā)生了故障。
警方稱，至于儲(chǔ)戶會(huì)不會(huì)受到指控，這得取決于Payzone公司。
英國大部分貸記卡每日最高取款金額為300英鎊，也就是說，當(dāng)天成功取款的“幸運(yùn)兒”們最多從這個(gè)出故障的機(jī)器里取走了600英鎊。
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（英語點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯）
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