I was working at the Halifax at the time, helping to develop and support the ATM network. The Halifax operate three ATM models, the Philips 6601, the Philips 6611 and the Philips 6612. The 6611 was to be the replacement for the 6601 and the 6612 was the in-branch model.
The Philips 6601 ATMs had a habit, although not particularly widespread, of dispensing more than the cardholder had requested, usually exceeding what they had in their account and often by several thousand pounds.
There was some sort of external glitch that prevented the instruction limiting the dispense to the amount requested from being delivered, leaving the dispenser mechanism to time out. The cash bonus therefore depended on the denomination of the notes loaded into the ATM and the number of notes it was able to dispense in 30 seconds.
The glitch often happened on a Friday, giving the cardholder a bumper weekend bonus, and was picked up by The Sun in August 1988. The Sun inevitably made the connection with The Sun Lotto.
Most of the cash was recovered, as most people recognised that it wasn’t really theirs to keep. We knew who had received it and we knew the size of their Lotto win. One cardholder, however, had spent the lot, was made aware that it should not have been spent, and agreed to pay it back in instalments.
I don’t recall the same problem wit the 6611 and 6612.
