BANK customers were left fuming on Tuesday after they found they could not withdraw cash from Barclays’ ATMs.

One of the branches affected by “a technical fault” was Barclays in Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, where tempers flared as more and more customers discovered their cards didn’t work.

Marieke Hemmes from Boscombe said: “I’m so annoyed; I should have been paying my rent today. Now I can’t do that.”

French student Mouttar Cisse said: “I passed my driving test this morning and was planning to buy a car tonight after finding it on eBay.

“But when I went to withdraw £5,000 I couldn’t get any money out of my account; the most was £50 from the cashier. All the computer systems were down and I couldn’t access my account on Barclays’ website either.

“I tried using my bank card at other cash machines but it didn’t work at any of them either.”

Polly Williams, 42, from Bournemouth’s West Cliff, tried to open an account at the branch but was unsuccessful.

She said: “It’s not a problem; I’ll just come back tomorrow.”

Ian Wadley, a Daily Echo sports writer, was among disappointed customers.

He said: “I couldn’t get any money out and couldn’t use my card at other machines. There was a big queue of disgruntled customers who had all experienced the same problem.

“I kept trying and by 5pm I was able to withdraw cash; it looked like the problem had been sorted out.”

A Barclays spokeswoman blamed the mix-up on “a technical fault” and said the South of England had been the most affected area.

She added that by 5 pm the hardware had been successfully replaced and systems were being gradually restored with many already back online.

A spokeswoman at the LINK ATM network confirmed that Barclays’ customers had been unable to use other LINK members’ ATMs and other LINK customers could not use Barclays’ ATMS.

She stressed that no other members had been affected and their machines had been working normally.