Out of Joint

Bank bosses were forced to take action yesterday after customers complained the stench of CANNABIS was putting them off their transactions.

Homeless people sleeping overnight in bank machine cash foyer of the HSBC branch in Ely are thought to be responsible for the whiff of weed.

The smell of ganja "wafts down Ely high street", according to one sensitive local.

Outraged customers said they were furious after breathing in fumes from the class B drug and urged the bank to take immediate action.

Mum Claire Rylands, said: ''Thanks to some selfish vagrants I have passively smoked something that might turn you into a drug-addled psychotic – and not just me but innocent children in Ely too.''

But one mellow philosophy fresher, was more, well, philosophical.

“This is a massive over-reaction”, he said.

“It seems pretty repulsive to be attacking homeless people who are only trying to keep their spirits up."

A spokeswoman for HSBC confirmed it had received ''a few'' complaints about the smell of cannabis in the building and was working to resolve the problem.

She said: ''HSBC in Ely is working closely with the local police to ensure the branch and lobby area is kept clean and safe at all times.''

It remains to be seen if they will be able to weed out the troublemakers.