Northern Rock says eight out of ten calls are to reinvest money in the bank

In a statement the lender says that by 10.30am today there were 3,472 calls compared with 36,894 by the same time yesterday and eight of ten calls are to reinvest money in the bank.

It adds that at 10am there were reduced queues outside just four Northern Rock branches – out of a potential 76 UK branches.

The statement also says that there are half as many people accessing their internet accounts today compared to yesterday.

Northern Rock says that any customers who, under the terms and conditions of the account, had to pay a charge or CHAPS transfer fee to withdraw money due to concerns about the situation will have that charge refunded as long as they reinvest the funds into the same type of account with Northern Rock by October 5.