Cash machines that crash are a pain in the neck, but our local Clydesdale Bank cashpoint is dedicated to go ing one better - it's not unusual to see one or both cashpoints crashed and inoperative.

One unlucky ComputerActive staffer  put his card in the machine this lunchtime, only to have it promptly crash and throw up the Blue Screen of Death. In these situations, the ATM  automatically destroys any card left inside. No money, and no cash card. Very frustrating. As he watched the machine scroll through the  startup process, however, he was shocked to see it loading an application called VISTAatm.

Sadly, it was this VISTAatm, not an ATM running Vista. Which would have been far more amusing, and would at least have helped lighten the situation a bit.