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Santander Fault Hits Customers

The bank apologised for any inconvenience caused to customers

A power cut has knocked out cash machine and online services at Santander bank for more than six hours.

The power failed at 1100 GMT on Sunday following internal testing which affected more than 2,000 cash machines for the UK's third largest retail bank.

Customers were still able to use cards at tills for products up to a certain, undisclosed, value and for cash-back.

A Santander spokesman said power has now returned, with all ATMs and online banking services restored by 1730 GMT.

Alliance & Leicester, which is owned by Santander, was unaffected.

The Santander spokesman said its customers were able to withdraw cash from other banks' ATMs within three hours of the power failure.

He apologised for any inconvenience and said individuals with any outstanding issues or who felt they were financially disadvantaged should contact the company.

In January, Santander started renaming all 1,045 branches of the former Abbey and Bradford & Bingley bank.

Santander bought Abbey in 2004 and then bought both the Bradford & Bingley and the Alliance & Leicester (A&L) in 2008.

The nearly 300 A&L branches will be renamed later this year.

The change will make the Santander brand the fifth biggest provider of bank current accounts in the UK, with 25 million savers and borrowers.

All News supplied by the BBC