The ‘computer’ ended where the ledger began.
The machine read the holes, checked the PIN and dispensed cash. Each night, a bank worker retrieved the retained cards, debited the accounts by hand and posted the cards back. Customers received several cards because every withdrawal temporarily consumed one.
That is the delicious contradiction: Britain’s 24-hour bank needed the Royal Mail and an overnight clerk. Magnetic-stripe machines later returned the reusable card immediately.
See the Bank of England Museum card →NatWest had 75 machines before the system was truly online.
A sports day that makes room for recovery.
The Transplant Games & Recreational Fund helps Great Ormond Street renal transplant patients reach the British Transplant Games, providing team kit and subsidising families’ costs. Its Wonderful Org profile currently lists six fundraising pages and £11,421.20 raised, plus £1,905.75 Gift Aid.
Support the TGRF renal team →Britain’s first cash machine read a radioactive cheque.
Wednesday: why Barclays’ 1967 Enfield machine exchanged a single-use £10 paper voucher - marked with carbon-14 - for one banknote, and why that branch was chosen.