A British cash machine became a big hit this week after it started paying out twice as much money as it should.

The ATM, outside a supermarket in they city of Hull in  northern England, began spewing out double the money Tuesday afternoon and continued doing so for several hours, drawing a crowd of hundreds eager to cash in on the mistake.

"People were calling their mates up and telling them to get down there", the Hull Daily Mail quoted a passer-by as saying.

After several hours the machine finally ran out of money.