Police resorted to guarding ATMs in Ireland after a glitch at the country's biggest bank let some people take out over $1,000 of cash they didn't have
- Bank of Ireland customers were able to withdraw beyond their account limits due to a technical glitch.
- Some people with low balances were able to take out 1,000 euros ($1,090) in cash, per The Telegraph.
Bank of Ireland apologized after a "technical issue" meant some customers were able to withdraw cash beyond their account limits on Tuesday.
Some people with low balances were able to take out 1,000 euros ($1,090) in cash, The Telegraph reported.
While a glitch in Bank of Ireland's app allowed people with no money to transfer up to 500 euros, per the Irish Independent.
"We sincerely apologise for the disruption this outage caused – we know we fell far below the standards our customers expect from us," Bank of Ireland said in a statement shared with Insider.
"We are aware that the technical issue meant some customers were able to withdraw or transfer funds above their normal limits," it added.
Videos shared on social media showed huge queues forming in front of ATMs in Dublin and other Irish towns.
And in some towns the lines were so big that the Gardaí, Ireland's police force, had to help control them, the Irish Independent reported. Some police were also filmed guarding ATMs, per Sky News.
A spokesperson for the police force told RTE this was carried out on a "case-by-case basis" and that "local decisions were made depending on the public safety and public order."
Bank of Ireland warned customers that the transfers and withdrawals will still be applied to their accounts. It urged customers "who may find themselves in financial difficulty due to overdrawing on their account to contact us."
"Yesterday a technical issue impacted a number of Bank of Ireland's services. Our teams restored these services overnight," the statement added. "Overnight payments to accounts may appear throughout the day and the app may be slow today as we continue to catch up in processing payments."