UK Debit Cards and ATM's Fail....

I called the Halifax this morning and have been informed that all Debit Cards are being "Declined" and that all ATM machines are not issusing money to the debit cards....so if you are a Debit card user then you will not be able to use your debit card to buy items.
How weird...on my birthday this happens...is this like the IT banking market saying "Happy Birthday" to me, wow, out of all the days this could happen it occurs on the 1st October 2008.
ANyway if you are in a queue because you pay by debit card then I feel sorry for you...you might not get your debit cards back till this afternoon.
PS : If you are reading this and your debit card works fine then this is obvioulsy an issue with Shitifx.....sorry I mean Halifax and you can ignore this message!