LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England provided emergency funding to mortgage lender Northern Rock PLC yesterday after the bank, citing the global credit squeeze triggered by the US subprime mortgage crisis, said it was unable to line up short-term loans from other financial institutions.

Even after the central bank issued a statement saying Northern Rock was solvent, lines of customers snaked through its doors to make withdrawals.

"I would not put a penny into that company again," said Tony Looch, 68, who withdrew his savings after standing in line for nearly two hours outside a branch in central London. "There are a lot of older people who must be really scared."

Shares in the bank plunged 31.46 percent to 438 pence ($8.88) as revelations of a cash shortage spooked investors.

Northern Rock CEO Adam Applegarth announced that profits would fall to between £500m and £540m ($1 billion and $1.1bn) — as much as £147m ($298m) less than expected.

The bank has been unable to raise funds since last month when the wholesale money markets it relied on for cash choked up. Applegarth said the problem was likely to continue for the rest of the year as bad US loans continue rattle the market.

"We can't tell when the global (credit) freeze is going to unwind. On that basis, it made sense to get this facility now," he told Sky News. He did not disclose how much the bank had borrowed.

Financial experts said there was little risk the bank, which holds £113bn ($226bn) in assets, would collapse.

That meant little to investors, who began dumping shares of other British Banks. Alliance & Leicester PLC and Bradford & Bingley fell between six and six percent Friday. HBOS PLC and Barclays PLC fell by around 3.5 percent.

Treasury chief Alistair Darling said there was no threat of insolvency at the bank and urged customers not to panic.

"There's plenty of money in the system," he said. "All the banks have money, but at the moment they're not lending to each other in the way they usually do."