Banks now refusing to lend pens

Humor from Newsbiscuit:

Another Barclays Bank customer was refused the loan of a pen earlier today, when he needed to fill out a paying-in slip. Dominic Jenkins, 27 found himself without a pen in the Maidenhead branch, but was informed of a change of policy by the bank, whose pens are now firmly glued inside the little pen holders. 'During the current economic climate, we cannot be expected to sanction the loan of biros without guarantees of adequate security' said a Barclays spokesman.

The pen-lending crisis has escalated despite a government bail out which saw the Treasury giving the banks millions and millions of ball-points. 'We went through all the drawers at 11 Downing Street explained Alistair Darling, 'trying out all the old biros to see if they had any ink in them. We even gave them those free ones you get from the charities to make you feel guilty.' But despite the massive transfer of public pens to the banking sector, financial institutions remain nervous of lending any writing instruments to their customers.

'They said I could borrow a biro if I filled out the six page form Lf/20b 'Application for a Ballpoint Loan,'' said Mr Jenkins. But I couldn't fill out the form because he didn't have a pen.'