Solid as a Northern Rock
Monday, September 17th, 2007A difficult situation worsens. People were queuing up outside branches of Northern Rock at 7am this morning. Branches were opened for two extra hours today to deal with the demand.
Though all the experts told people not to panic, Northern Rock’s customers are showing their feelings of insecurity. I can’t blame them; how many people have lost their pensions or had their endowment mortgages undervalued in the past decade? The chance that they could lose their hard-earned savings would make anyone worry.
In this case, the adage is true: actions speak louder than words. They cost more too: £2 million has been withdrawn from Northern Rock’s coffers so far.
My advice to those people who having been queuing up over the past couple of days to withdraw their life savings from Northern Rock is to be careful. Someone might try to mug you on your way home. I’m not kidding either.
Get a cashier’s cheque or something similar; don’t get your thousands in bundles of £50 notes carried in semi-transparent Tesco bags. I’m sure nobody is that silly anyway, right?
10:56 pm on 17-Sep-07
Never underestimate the human capacity to be silly! How much confidence would people have, though, in a cashier’s cheque drawn on a bank that may go down the bog at any monent?
10:59 pm on 17-Sep-07
Well, the Bank of England is prepared to back them up…
A woman queuing up outside a branch (whose name was given in the article) said that she was planning to withdraw £500,000…
11:08 pm on 17-Sep-07
So this woman gives her name and the amount she will be walking home with? Unbelievable.
11:16 pm on 17-Sep-07
I’d hire a team of armed guards to protect me if I had that much money to withdraw.