Quids in - cash machine dispensing free money sparks scenes of student revelry

Hundreds of gleeful punters - mostly students - queued for up to three hours at the Royal Bank of Scotland ATM with most making multiple withdrawals.

But those lucky enough to cash in should not blow their windfall as the RBS has vowed to trace all discrepancies and demand the money back.

It is believed that canny punters fleeced the ATM in well-heeled Clifton, Bristol - which dispensed £20s for every £10 withdrawn - for tens of thousands.

The three hour cash free for all sparked a mini mardi gras atmosphere on the streets with people rejoining the queue having popped into the local off-licence for a few bottles.

Eleanor Woodward, 23, of Bristol, was crossing the road at 3pm when someone told her the ATM was giving out double money.

Marketing assistant Eleanor said: "I withdrew £20 at first and got £40 and then went up to Sainsburys's thinking I'd done really well.

"But then I thought, 'what am I doing?' and headed back down. By this time there were about 12 people there.

"I withdrew another £80 and then felt quite guilty so left it at that, but I texted all my mates and they headed down.

"Within about half an hour there were hundreds of people queueing as everyone must have done the same thing.

"I went over to my flat, which overlooks the bank, and my boyfriend and I sat and watched as everyone - mostly students - laughed and drank beer and having a ball waiting for their money.

"People were maxing out their credit cards up to £1,000 at a time, so God knows how much money the bank lost." Those who missed out were left feeling bitter.

Artist Richard Thorne, 24, an artist, queued for an hour and a half but the machine ran out of money when he was just four from the front.

He said: "I feel quite bitter about it all because there were people at the machines for up to 40 minutes with all their mate's cards and lists of pin numbers, so it meant that we missed out completely.

"However, it was a good atmosphere and people were really in a party mood.

"It was funny watching people driving by confused as there was one cashpoint with hundreds at it and another right next to it with no one queueing at all."

The machine ran out of cash at about 6pm and the lucky winners went out to spend their new money at nearby bars.

James Maloney, manager of Henry Africas Hothouse bar across the road from the ATM, said: "We had bumper takings in the evening - our happy hour has never been so happy!

"Everyone was talking about how much money they'd made.

"It's nice to think that they all had a night out on the Royal Bank of Scotland - very generous of them."

A spokesman for Royal Bank of Scotland refused to confirm how much money was lost, but said the lucky punters would be chased up.

She said: "Unfortunately due to a manual error, there was an issue with the Clifton cash machine dispensing incorrect notes.

"As soon as we were made aware of this the machine was taken out of action at 18:00 hours, Saturday evening.

"The problem has since been rectified and the machine is back up and running.

"We have a record of all the people who made withdrawals from the machine during this period and any discrepancies will be followed up this week.

"A sister machine at the same site was not affected and remained functioning throughout."