Halifax customers were unable to use cash machines or their Switch card facility yesterday, because of a computer glitch.

A Halifax spokesman told vnunet that the bank's mainframe system crashed at 10am on bank holiday Monday, which meant that customers could not draw cash or check accounts on Halifax's 2500 cash machines or the Link network, which totals around 27,000 hole-in-the-wall facilities. Customers could also not use their Switch card if the payment was more than the limit set by the retailer.

"The computer crash meant our systems were down for half an hour or so," said the spokesman. "There were a small number of customers impacted in certain circumstances. It is regrettable and we apologise to those that it inconvenienced."

The Halifax said its system is now running as normal. "We are having a debrief to find out what caused the problem," said the spokesman.