Bank machine glitch allows people to withdraw 'free cash' causing nationwide queues

A major tech issue led to people thinking they could withdraw 'free cash' from their bank accounts, even if they didn't have any.

Huge queues formed outside ATMs across the country last night (15 August) following a glitch with the Bank of Ireland's online systems.

The tech fault meant people were able to transfer money into a Revolut digital account and then take it out at cash machines.

According to reports, while the Bank of Ireland claimed that it had a daily withdrawal limit of €500 (£429), some people said they were able to get to twice that amount.

And with the going apparently very good, people jumped at the chance to see if they could get in on the act.

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Footage shared across social media showed long lines of people waiting patiently to try their luck.

Things got so hectic that guards took to the streets to protect the cash points.

In a statement shared last night, the Bank of Ireland said it was trying to get the issue under control.

A post to Twitter read: "We are aware that customers using our mobile app and 365Online are currently experiencing difficulties.

"We are working to fix this issue as quickly as possible and apologise for any inconvenience caused. We will update here once service is restored.

"We are working on a technical issue that is impacting a number of our services including our mobile app and 365Online.

"We are working to fix this as quickly as possible and apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused."

In a further update, the bank stated that everyone who withdrew money from their account would be debited the full amount. So, sorry guys, no free money.

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"We would like to remind customers if transferring/withdrawing funds-including over normal limits-this money will be debited from their account," a spokesperson said.

"We are conscious customers may not be able to check balances, but should not withdraw/transfer if they are likely to become overdrawn."

A final update, shared this morning (16 August), said the glitch had been taken care of.

It read: "Following the outage yesterday, the App and 3650nline are back working again. Overnight payments to accounts may appear throughout the day.

"We sincerely apologise for the disruption this outage caused - we know it fell far below the standards our customers expect from us."