Once the word was out, there was no stopping them. A British cash machine became a big hit this week after it started paying out twice as much money as it should.

The ATM, outside a supermarket in the city of Hull in northern England, began spewing out double the money Tuesday afternoon and continued doing so for several hours, drawing a crowd of hundreds eager to cash in on the mistake.

At one stage, the queue for the cash machine was a 100-strong - with many making multiple withdrawals.

"They were walking away with huge wads of cash and big smiles on their faces," said a witness.

"And people were calling their mates up and telling them to get down there."

The crowd began gathering at the store in Hull at around 5pm on Tuesday and finally dispersed at 8pm when the faulty ATM ran out of notes.

One man, who did not wish to be named, said: "I was driving past when I saw a huge queue at the cash machine.

"I parked up and learned that it was paying out double. I joined the queue and when I finally got to the front, I drew out £200, but it gave me £400.

"The statement said I only drew out £200. I don't know whether I will have to pay it back."

Payzone, a company that administers ATMs, would not comment in detail on the incident but said it appeared one of its machines had malfunctioned.

Police said those who had benefited could face charges but only if the operator complained.

Most debit cards have a daily cash withdrawal limit of £300 - meaning that those lucky enough to use the haywire machine were able to take out a maximum of £600.

“说出去的话就像泼出去的水。”英国的一台自动取款机在本周可是大受欢迎，因为人们可在这台提款机上取到双倍的钱。

这台提款机位于英格兰北部城市赫尔的一家超市外，它于本周二下午出现“双倍吐钱”故障，并持续了数小时，这一消息传出后，数百人都跑来“捡便宜”。

排队取款的人数一度达到一百多人——很多人还取了好几次。

一位目击者说：“取到钱的人都满脸笑容地拿着一大叠钱走了。”

“还有人打电话给丈夫或妻子，让他们来取钱。”

当天下午5点左右，这家超市外开始排起了长队，直到晚上8点提款机“弹尽粮绝”，排队的人才散去。

一名不愿透露姓名的男子说：“我开车路过这里时，看到提款机前有很多人在排队。”

“我停了车，得知提款机正双倍吐钱，于是我也去排队，轮到我时，我本来是要取200英镑，结果出来了400英镑。”

“可取款单上写的是200英镑，我不知道是不是应该返还多给的钱。”

专门管理自动提款机的Payzone公司拒此事发表详细评论，但称这是提款机发生了故障。

警方称，至于储户会不会受到指控，这得取决于Payzone公司。

英国大部分贷记卡每日取款金额为300英镑，也就是说，当天成功取款的“幸运儿”们最多从这个出故障的机器里取走了600英镑。