No? Me either, but this is their story, and I guess they're gonna stick to it! From Virgian Pilot:

http://wire.ap.org/?FRONTID=BUSINESS

ATM User Trapped for 9 Hours

RARITAN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP)  An ATM lobby, activated to lock automatically on Thanksgiving evening, trapped a man as he completed a withdrawal, holding him inside until a bank employee arrived for work Friday morning.

James Kahlke, 36, spent nine hours at a Raritan Township branch of Commerce Bank  pounding on a door, pacing, making periodic withdrawals and finally curling up on a rug to sleep.

From 9 p.m. Thursday, when he heard the door click behind him, until 6 a.m. Friday, when the bank's assistant manager arrived, Kahlke was trapped in the ATM lobby.

``I heard a click and realized I was locked in,'' he said. ``There was no way to alert the outside world where I was. There was no phone, no alarm system, no way I could call for help.''

Commerce Bank spokesman David Flaherty described Kahlke's experience as a ``very freak accident'' and said the bank is looking into the problem to find out what happened.

Kahlke said the ordeal convinced him to take his money elsewhere.

``As soon as I made use of the phone and their facilities, I closed my account,'' he said.

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), November 28, 1999

Answers

Guess all the cops were in riot training that night?

-- Trouble Maker (7762@alcatrazz.com), November 28, 1999.

The bankers have told us that our money is safest within their banks, and they'll use all methods to keep the money there!

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), November 28, 1999.

Did the man locked up in the bank not have family members or friends looking for him? Sounds funny to me.

-- Linda A (adahi@muhlon.com), November 28, 1999.

If it was a lobby ATM then why didn't he try to break into the BANK area? I mean, they do have alarm systems don't they??

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), November 28, 1999.

Really, I mean if he was in a ATM lobby they always have a push to exit type door unlock. If he was in the bank itself any movement should have triggered the alarm. Likewise any serious banging on windows leading to the main bank area will trigger alarms.

It just dont make sense.

-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), November 28, 1999.

I would have tried banging the hell out of the bank windows to trigger the alarm. Failing that, I might have been tempted to put a couple 9mm slugs into the lock mechanism. I had claustrophobia, after all... :)

In my case, the wife would have been looking for me after awhile, wondering where in the heck I was...

-- Bill (billclo@msgbox.com), November 28, 1999.