HUNDREDS of people queued at a cashpoint machine after it began dishing out extra money - and the giveaway lasted SIX hours.

It spewed out £60 every time it was asked for £30. Customers used several debit cards more than five times - and then phoned pals to tell them to join the queue for the Nationwide machine at the BP garage on Barton Road, Stretford.

Shan Cliff, 21, said: "Most people have taken out hundreds of pounds. No one's going to turn down free money. I don't know whether it will show in our accounts but it's their mistake not ours."

A Nationwide official said: "We're looking into it and we can't say yet whether the customers will have to pay the money back."

The machine is believed to have started paying out the wrong amounts at 11am yesterday (Thursday) and carried out until around 4.20pm. T

he screen then went blank and the system began rebooting itself. But after showing a brief `temporarily out of service' message, it began dishing out the extra cash again.

A 33-year-old man, who benefited to the tune of £150 but did not want to be named, said: "The banks have had enough off us so it's good to get a little back.

"My friend texted me about 2pm. I couldn't believe it. You had to wait a while because people are putting their cards in five and six times but it was well worth it."

At one point, fifty people were in the queue.

Matt Casey, 21, who works in the Subway restaurant at the garage, said: "There's been a queue out there all day."

Legally, it is at the discretion of the bank whether to seek to identify every `faulty' transaction and reclaim any overpayment. But in most previous cases, they have simply written off their losses.

Zoe Steven, spokeswoman for Nationwide, said: "We can confiorm there was a problem and the ATM has been taken out of action while the problem is investigated.

"It will be put back in place and ready for action for the weekend. Obviously, some people were deliberately using the machine to take money which doesn't belong to them and we were disappointed people didn't alert us to it earlier in the day.

"I can confirm there was a problem with a third party supplier incorrectly loading the machine.

"At this stage we are still investigating the problem but we will reserve the right to contact people on an individual basis regarding this matter."