LUCKY customers at a March cashpoint thought all their birthdays and Christmases were being rolled into one ... when the machine paid out double the amount they had asked for. For 60 or so glorious minutes, anyone using the Tesco cashpoint on the front of

LUCKY customers at a March cashpoint thought all their birthdays and Christmases were being rolled into one ... when the machine paid out double the amount they had asked for.

For 60 or so glorious minutes, anyone using the Tesco cashpoint on the front of its Broad Street store received twice the amount they keyed in.

But it was not computer error that caused the machine to spew out the wrong amounts - a clerk had accidentally filled the £10 note dispenser with £20 notes.

It was not long, however, before word spread rapidly through the town, and soon people were flocking to try their luck.

At one point, people were queuing as far back as Woolworth's - six shops along the street - in the hope of getting to the machine before it ran out of cash.

Just how much was shelled out by mistake is unclear, but the good news for those lucky enough to have been there on Saturday morning is that they can keep the extra money.

A forlorn spokesman for the bank said this week: "Unfortunately, due to a manual error, there was an issue with the cash machine dispensing incorrect notes.

"As soon as we became aware of the fault, the machine was shut down. The problem has since been put right and the machine is now back up and running."

One customer described the experience of drawing out extra cash "as a little surreal" and added: "It was strange keying in an amount and finding you got double what you asked for.

"I'm amazed the bank has told me I can now keep the extra cash - there will be dozens of people celebrating their good fortune.