BANK JAM ON WAGES.

AT least 400,000 people expecting to be paid yesterday failed to receive their wages because of a hitch in the electronic cash flow.

The Banks Automated Clearing System (BACS) slowed down and was unable to send out all the payments in time.

Workers affected would be paid on Monday, said Sandra Quinn, of the payments association Apacs. She said employees would be refunded if their accounts went overdrawn or if they breached a borrowing limit as a result of the problem.

And she advised people who needed funds for the weekend to withdraw them over the counter - as cash machines could fail to pay out if a transaction caused an unauthorised overdraft.

She said: "The entire banking and payments industry is extremely sorry that this has happened and we are working to resolve the issue and limit the impact on individual customers."

Ms Quinn said there was no pattern to the glitch and any company that had been affected by the problem should have informed its employees.

Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vincent Cable said: "There must be no question of customers being charged because of banks' mistakes.

"There was a study of charges and profits which recommended changes seven years ago. The authorities should act on behalf of consumers."

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CALL: Cable