Worried customers rushed to their branch when the Northern Rock's troubles hit the media this morning. Owen Amos joined them in Darlington.

THE silver-haired man propped on his walking stick, stared at the queue, and shook his head.

"What's all this," he said, to no-one in particular. "Is the new Harry Potter out or something?"

The newspaper bill, on the other side of Darlington's High Row, explained all. Northern Rock in funding crisis, it read, simply. The queue, more than a hundred-people strong by 9.30am, needed no reminding.

Colin Wilson, from Newton Aycliffe, was one of the tense tail-back. "I picked up my paper this morning, had a look, then put it on the table, he said.

"Quarter of an hour later I looked at it again. I thought I'd better come down here. I'm going to try to take money out."

Kevin Fowler, from Darlington, also hoped to withdraw money. "You look at this queue, and it's this long - what will it be like at other branches?

"This is just one branch. It will probably be worse elsewhere."

The queue, like reproducing bacteria, kept multiplying. Television and radio crews darted in and out: the global credit squeeze never seemed so interesting.

Brian Morrison, from Darlington, didn't worry when he saw the morning news. But, when the queue doubled in the twenty minutes he was inside the Indoor Market, he thought again.

"Well, you worry dont you? he said. If you think other people are worried, you wonder - shouldn't I be worried too?"

By 1pm, the queue remained - orderly, but anxious. Not every Northern Rock customer joined, though.

"I'm a borrower, an investor, and a shareholder - and I'm not worried," said Jane Montague, from Darlington. "The fact the Bank of England has offered to lend them money is the best guarantee you can get."

Veteran Darlington councillor Bill Stenson, at the front of the queue at 9.30am, was also calm. "I think it's the media, getting people excited, he said with a smile. We're only here to get money for the weekend."

With hundreds of people withdrawing thousands of pounds, The Big Issue seller, in his usual spot by the Northern Rock, looked optimistic. The Salvation Army collector was more grounded.

"I haven't noticed any more donations," he said.

"One female passer-by asked what the fuss was about." "The Northern Rock have had to borrow four and a half billion quid off the Bank of England," replied a man in the queue.

"Four and a half billion quid?" the woman said. "I wonder if they can lend me some."