Glitch holds up salary payments

Arrangements were hurriedly put in place late this week in an attempt to make sure thousands of people affected by a bank computer error were not left cashless this Easter weekend.

The glitch affected 20,000 businesses that bank with Barclays and meant that salary payments due to arrive in people's accounts last Thursday will now not show up until next Tuesday.

Barclays has made arrangements which, it says, should ensure most people are still able to withdraw cash this weekend even if their salary does not show up on their account balance.

Affected customers of Barclays, Lloyds TSB, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland, Co-operative Bank, Nationwide, Northern Bank, Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank should have been able to withdraw cash from ATMs by yesterday or today at the latest.

Affected HSBC customers may not be able to get money from ATMs until Tuesday if they go over their limit. If they have problems they should call its phone banking service (08457 404 404).