People stand in the queue to get the double windfall
 
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 Hull¹ 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 withdrawals³.

"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 gathering⁴ at the store in Hull at around 5pm on Tuesday and finally dispersed⁵ 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 malfunctioned⁶.

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

Most debit⁷ cards have a daily cash withdrawal² 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公司拒绝对此事发表详细评论，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最高取款金额为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。

Vocabulary: 

malfunction:发生故障