David Roberts and Nigel Burton joined anxious Northern Rock customes on the front line yesterday.

QUEUES of customers started gathering outside Northern Rock offices shortly after dawn yesterday.

Some had brought flasks of hot coffee and sandwiches, others had fold-up chairs, plenty were wrapped in hats and scarves.

Although there was a generally good spirit among savers, a few could not disguise the tension as they waited with their account books hoping to withdraw savings.

Northern Rock branches were opened early by weary staff who braced themselves for another long day. About 20 customers were outside the bank's Northumberland Street, Newcastle, branch from before 7am.

When the doors opened an hour later, the queue had swelled to more than 60 people. By then the wait to get to the head of the line was four hours - but still the queue continued to grow.

Staff appeared stressed, but were calm and friendly to those queuing outside. One man offered a frail pensioner his jacket to keep her warm.

Customers who were withdrawing less than £500 were taken to the front of the queue. A letter was given out to help ease tensions.

Derek Smith, 36, from Newcastle, said: "I used to work in the financial services for a number of years. I will come back if the bank survives. I have to keep my money safe. It is my life savings I don't want to risk it."

Student Savanna Rooney, 17, said: "I don't really know what is going on, but I want to talk to someone about my savings. I am considering taking my money elsewhere."

Cashier Elaine Hall, 50, from Burnopfield, north-west Dur-ham, said: "I am going to transfer some of my money. I am not going to close my account.

"I am going to leave it open because I have direct debits coming out and my wages going in. I know they keep saying they are not in trouble, but you don't get all this madness if they aren't in trouble.

"I feel really sorry for the staff. There are rumours that jobs might be lost and I have seen customers be really horrible."

Retired Thomas Birkett, 63, from Gosforth, said: "I am taking my money out but I don't want to. It is my money, my life, I would rather be safe than sorry."

It was the same story in Darlington - a mixture of fear, confusion and mild panic.

Gemma Quinn from Crook, County Durham, said: "We've heard that it was closing and that it was going bankrupt. You're not guaranteed of keeping your money.

"You hear about other banks going like this, but this one has borrowed too much and they shouldn't have borrowed it."

The bank isn't going bankrupt - it has the full support of the Bank of England, a generous mortgage portfolio and billions in deposits - but that couldn't assuage her fears.

Anne Appleyard, from Heighington, near Darlington, was more sanguine about the bank's problems, but was going to close her account anyway: "I was listening to all the news and I don't really think there's a problem, but I was going to take it out anyway.

"It was my mother's money and I was going to put it somewhere else. I was planning to do it a while ago, but this has just made me do it now."

Ann Ellison, from Barnard Castle, County Durham, summed up the feelings of many: "You don't know what's going to happen and that's the top and bottom of it. You don't whether this is just the beginning."

Judy Lilley, from Richmond, North Yorkshire, said: "We've all been talking about this in the queue and the thing is we don't have the confidence not to be here. Nothing that we've seen or heard has reassured us. I'm going to be keeping my current account and closing my savings. That's all I have in my life.

"This all stems back to the pensions situation when a lot of people lost their pensions and I just keep thinking that the same thing might happen here. I'm blaming the government because they should have controlled this."

Lindsey and Steven Eltringham, from Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, knew they shouldn't be worried but felt compelled to join the queue.

Lindsey said: "We thought that if there's this many people coming to get money out, then most banks would be in trouble.

"We don't want to risk it, so we'll close the account.

"It's a concern. It's all very well them saying that our money's okay, but it's not going to be them that lose it. It's our future."

And with every saver who takes their money elsewhere, The Northern Rock's future looks ever bleaker.