Northern Rock - Total Insanity

These queues of people desperately trying to get their money out of Northern Rock is completely insane (the ones shown here are in my old home town, Chelmsford). Remarks heard include 'All these people can't be wrong - something is happening here, I don't want to lose my savings'; and most worrying of all 'There are no guarantees, I don't want to risk my money'. Alastair Darling and the FSA and the head of Northern Rock and the Bank of England have all said very clearly that there is enough money in the Northern Rock to repay all the money invested. Even if the bank goes broke (never going to happen - the government won't allow it) £2,000 is guaranteed, 90% of the next £33,000 is also guaranteed. How many of these people have more than £35,00 in the Bank? How many are going to take vast amounts of cash out and where will they put it? Under the mattress? The Chancellor said so many times that there is enough money in the Bank to cover all the savings. There is some truth in the old saying - AS SAFE AS THE BANK OF ENGLAND!!!
Now how do I invest in Northern Rock?

Bank Charges

Now I realise that the banks do not have a good reputation and I'm sure some of the charges they are making to their customers appear both excessive and unfair. However, I do think that

there should be some way to ensure that a small number of customers do not totally ignore the agreement they made when they opened their account. Those who
REGULARLY go either overdrawn or flout their overdraft limit should be penalised. Perhaps a seven day

warning should be issued telling those errant customers what they will be charged if they continue above their limit. Equally if you go overdrawn one day and are unaware of the fact banks should not levy a daily charge making the situation worse. I would not be happy though if banks were unable to make any charges to these rogue customers who ignore limits - and then charging the rest of us 'good customers'.