Nationalisation of Northern Rock that Northern Rock was to be nationalised claiming that the private bids did not offer "sufficient value for money to the taxpayer" and thus the bank was to be brought under a "temporary period of public ownership". The government is the sole shareholder through UK Financial Investments Limited, and the Bank is managed at "arm's length" on a commercial basis by an independent board under Ron Sandler. Customers are not affected by this change. A Government-appointed arbitration panel will decide on a fair price for the compensation to be offered to investors for their shares. Prior to the markets opening
Nationalisation of Northern Rock opened following the news, many customers queued outside branches to withdraw their savings (a run on the bank). This bank run was not the traditional form, where depositors withdraw money in a snowball effect, leading to a liquidity crisis; instead, it occurred in the aftermath of the liquidity crisis. It was estimated that £1 billion was withdrawn by customers that day, about 5% of the total bank deposits held by Northern Rock. In one incident, police were called to the branch in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, when two joint account holders barricaded the bank manager in her office after she refused to