Northern Rocked

(Updating the earlier post.) Well, the British press is reporting that about £1 billion was withdrawn today from Northern Rock bank. The folks there are probably breathing a sigh of relief at this point - the Bank of England has stepped in and backed the bank publicly with about £31 billion. It does not appear as if the bank will fail. But things like this don't help much - either on the bank's side or on the public's.

The starkest illustration of the panic gripping Northern Rock customers came in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

There, a couple barricaded a bank manager in her office after she refused to let them withdraw £1 million from their account.

Former hotelier Christopher Howard, 64, and his wife Fiona, 48, had been on the Internet all night trying to transfer the cash in their on-line account to another bank.

But the website repeatedly crashed and all the bank's phone lines went to recorded messages before cutting off.

The couple stormed into the branch on the High Street at 10.25am as a last resort.

Mrs Howard said: "We were sick with worry. When we got to the bank I couldn't believe their attitude. The manageress just didn't want to know.

"That was it. They had our money, would not give it to us and refused to help so we said we weren't leaving till they did and we would sleep there if we had to. She tried to usher us out of her office so I sat in the doorway. Then she called the police.

"It was only when the officer arrived, having been told to throw us out, that he saw sense and told her to sort things out.

"Then she finally made some phone calls. It took about two hours, but hopefully we'll hear from them within the next 24 hours."

She added: "It's absolutely dreadful. Our whole lives are on hold. We were trying to buy a place in Cyprus and have put a deposit down but it may now fall through as we can't get the rest of the funds. The whole thing is a farce - calling the police to remove their own customers."

The bank manager could have handled that a little better. But panicking isn't a good move, either. I have no idea what British law is like, but a customer in many places in the US could be charged with a number of offenses for blocking someone in like that. The old two wrongs don't make a right rule applies here. The Telegraph also covered this story - though not in as much detail. The ripples are spreading a bit through the banking system, but it does not look like a general collapse is about to happen, either.