Great Western Coffee Shop

I've seen a few posts flying around Facebook recently with the following or similar wording:


Please note that this photo is a hoax and no such system exists. So I thought I would post this as this seems like something even the hardy Public Transport User may believe and think works...!

North Wales Police (http://www.north-wales.police.uk/advice__support/pin_safety.aspx) have made a statement on their website here: http://www.north-wales.police.uk/advice__support/pin_safety.aspx (http://www.north-wales.police.uk/advice__support/pin_safety.aspx)  - Third Item on the page

It's not a bad idea though!

It's not a new idea we had a swipe and pin acess control system at a computer centre where i worked in the late 80s that had a duress feature using reversed pin entry. The only problem tha i can see is that if you under duress are you smart enough to reverse your pin?

The other problem is that the crime is still committed. Freddie Thief can well be long gone before the police turn up.

What is the purpose of this scam? Why has somone written that online? ???

Please calm down, everyone.  ::)

This particular 'urban myth' was debunked by snopes as early as 2006 - see http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/pinalert.asp   ;)

I have a palindromic PIN.  ::)

Please don't tell us that - that's cut it down from 10,000 to 100 possibles. 

Did you wonder why the police turn up every time you use your card?  ;D ;D ;D

Actually this probably says more about me than this thread, however to satisfy my curiosity I tried changing my PIN to a palindrome tonight and the machine suggested I couldn't as it was too obvious.  ;D

Most card issuers inform you that sequences (4567, 5432 etc) and 3 or 4 repeated digits (3331, 7777) can't be used as a PIN.

I was barred from using 3113.

I also couldn't use 4043 - apparently because it is the first four digits of my branch sort code!

If most issuers bar palindromes and suchlike, and yours is one of the few that allows them, doesn't that make them a safer, because less obvious and so less easily predicted, choice?

But then, of course, that's not going to work against those that don't know they are usually barred ...

i have just been sent a pin by my bank with 3 repeats of the same number in sequence. Have changed it of course!

One thing about being a GW trainspotter you've lots of locos to choose from for your pin.

About twenty years ago, probably a bit more, I was sent a new card with a PIN of 4321. It was in the days when you couldn't change it yourself. I contacted the bank and it took a long while to convince them that this PIN was a problem as being too easy to guess if the card was lost, although in the end they did re-issue with a different number. Times change ...

In an ideal world, where five digits were required, I'd choose the palindromic number 43034.  ;) :D ;D

An ATM I recently used in Belgium refused to accept me entering a 4 digit pin and insisted (by means of the 'continue' button not working) me enter a 6 digit pin.
00XXXX didnt work neither.

Gave up and went to use another ATM which also requested a 6 digit pin, but accepted 4 digits, and then got its own back by giving me ^50 notes...

In Europe, I've never had the fuss that you get here with ^50 notes.  Even ^100 notes never really cause any problems.

The opposite of that is when you take ^500 out of the machine and it coughs it out in fivers......

Wow!  Wherever did you find a cash machine that actually issued any fivers - let alone 100 of them!  :o ::) ;D

I actually seem to get ^5 notes out of cash machines quite a lot nowadays, the number dispensing them has certainly increased in the last couple of years.

Lloyds Bank, Broad Street, Wokingham.

The RBS machine at my local Tesco Express (across from West Ruislip station) issues fivers.

Lloyds bank near St James' park tube station

Excellent information, everyone - thanks!  ;)

Btline will be particularly pleased with such detailed updates: see http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=5200.msg48965#msg48965  ;D
 

Not any more - it's halfway through being turned into a restaurant (C^te).

In Nailsea:
Barclays - minimum ^10 notes
HSBC -minimum ^10 notes
Lloyds - minimum ^10 notes
Nationwide - minimum ^10 notes
NatWest - minimum ^10 notes
Brief, very unscientific, survey conducted today.  :P

In which case I would highly recommend Lloyds bank near St James' Park station.. Just checked my purse again and today I got ^20 in ^5 notes and ^30 in ^10 notes.. It is the best place for ^5 notes I've found in a long time

Ah that's going ahead is it?  There was a lot of talk about that when I lived nearby.

Yes - Lloyds do have a new and very nondescript shop round the corner, but have abandoned a building designed for them, and looking like a bank and nothing else. And the fact that this new restaurant was not (pseudo)Italian made the front page of the Wokingham Times.

The Link ATM locator advanced search has an option to show only ATMs that dispense ^5 notes.

http://www.link.co.uk/ATMLocator/Pages/ATMLocator.aspx

Thanks for posting that useful link, didcotdean!  ;)

So, Barclays Nailsea and Bank of Ireland (Post Office) Nailsea claim they dispense ^5 notes, eh?  I shall test them, rather more scientifically, first thing tomorrow morning!  ;D

In the end it depends what is loaded in the cassettes in the machine. I have received ^5 notes from one of the Didcot locations indicated by the site - although I didn't really need 8 fivers at the time.

Certain banks allow you to make cash withdrawals at the Post Office, and you can request whatever denominations you like  ;)

I think the "Tesco Bank" (read RBS) ATMs have an arrangement that they will issue ^5 notes if available. It is annoying when withdrawing ^100 you get it all in fivers as has happened to me once before on a Sunday morning.

Be careful with that one... In Frome the 24 hour ATM on the Street for Natwest will not issue ^5 notes. (Also has a habit of eating your card) However the ATM inside will issue them (Also equally likely to eat your card)

I had a similar problem to bobm at this very cash machine. Having withdrawn ^700 to pay Rent and Council Tax which I was unable to do online (Barsharks systems were down) I decided to withdraw in Natwest and pay it in over the counter in the same branch. The machine gave me nearly all ^5 notes and 2x ^10 notes. The agent at the counter was less than pleased... ::) :o

Incidentally Brucey has also had similar experiences to me with RBS Tesco Express ATMs, when the ATM at Stonebridge Tesco Express in Frome is working, this will also issue ^5 notes. Particularly handy if catching the 267 bus from there as the drivers seem to try and refuse ^10 or ^20 notes. Considering the fare is often more than ^6 if going all the way to Bath I think a ^10 note in personal opinion is perfectly acceptable as is a ^20 note for any fare above ^10 (Say 2x First Day SouthWest Tickets)

FGW TVMs (S&B not Shere) will refuse a ^20 if the journey is under ^6 at least at pad anyway. (That's of you can find a TVM that's taking notes.)

The ones at Swindon struggle with ^20 even if the fare is over ^10.  At least two of them did today....

Some banks dispense ^5 notes in their internal machines but not their external ones. My experience is that I get a maximum of six ^5 notes and the rest in ^10 and ^20 notes. Some free ATMs owned by Bank Machine Ltd only give out ^5 notes! There is also at least one machine in London that gives out ^50 notes as well as ^20s!