Panicked Northern Rock savers keep on queuing

Sep 18 2007 by Michael Haddon, Liverpool Daily Post

Customers queue outside the Lord Street branch of Northern Rock (320)

A STEADY stream of anxious Northern Rock customers queued for a third day outside the bank’s Liverpool branch, waiting to withdraw their savings yesterday.

Scenes at the Lord Street branch echoed those across the country as the bank’s reassurances that its customers’ finances were in safe hands fell on deaf ears.

All over the UK, branches extended their working day by two hours – opening early and closing late – in response to the huge queues of customers wanting to withdraw their money.

Staff at the Liverpool branch were sent out with trays full of cups of tea and coffee to keep people in the cold and wet happy.

They attempted to placate those waiting outside by assuring them business was going ahead as usual, with one mortgage advisor even remarking that she had finalised two mortgage applications that day.

But customers remained sceptical. “I know they’re saying not to panic, but you see everyone else taking out their money and we don’t want to be the ones left losing our savings,” said one woman from Mossley Hill.

This crisis first hit the high streets last Friday after it emerged Northern Rock had agreed emergency funding with the Bank of England.

The deal came after widespread volatility in international financial markets which was caused by high levels of defaults on risky US mortgages.

As a result, panicked customers attempted to remove their savings and a two-day run on the bank on Friday and Saturday saw as much as £2bn drained from accounts, according to some reports.

The chief financial watchdog and the Government have also sought to reassure people that their money is safe.

Callum McCarthy, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, said: “If we believed that Northern Rock was not solvent, we would not have allowed it to remain open for business.”

But pleas for calm failed to negate the concern and experts are now predicting that the name of Northern Rock will cease to exist in 12 months’ time, with some saying a buy-out will come sooner rather than later.