Northern Rock shares spiral down

Shares in crisis-hit mortgage lender Northern Rock slumped 12% today amid reports that worried savers have withdrawn more than £10bn (€14.33bn) from the bank.

Documents sent to would-be buyers of the stricken firm say customers have taken out £10.5bn (€15bn) since the bank was forced to seek emergency funding from the Bank of England in September, according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper.