Rs. 12,50,00,00,000.00 Spilled on the Road of Hong Kong

Dash for cash! Frenzy as drivers and pedestrians grab banknotes from the road after £1.25m is spilled when van carrying money crashed

By Julian Robinson for MailOnline and Afp 14:53 24 Dec 2014, updated 23:57 24 Dec 2014

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• Traffic ground to a halt in central Hong Kong after cash spilled out of van
• Equivalent of £1.25m in cash was on road sparking a frenzy among drivers
• Footage showed pedestrians dashing in from pavements to join in melee 

This was the scene when more than £1.25million in cash spilled out of an armoured van in Hong Kong - sparking a frenzy as passers-by tried to get their hands on the notes.

Traffic ground to a halt on busy Gloucester Road in central Hong Kong as taxi drivers rushed out of their cars to make a grab for the hundreds of banknotes scattered over the busy multi-lane highway. 

Television footage showed pedestrians dashing in from the pavements to join in the Christmas Eve melee.

Scroll down for video 

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This was the scene when more than £1.25million in cash spilled out of an armoured van in Hong Kong - sparking a frenzy as passers-by tried to get their hands on the notes

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This was the scene when more than £1.25million in cash spilled out of an armoured van in Hong Kong - sparking a frenzy as passers-by tried to get their hands on the notes

Police, some of them armed with armed with shotguns, helmets and bulletproof vests, rushed to the scene to secure the area.

More than HK$15.23million (£1.26million) spilled onto the road after the vehicle crashed, police said. 

It was not clear how much officers managed to retrieve and how much had been pocketed by members of the public.

'Any person who finds the relevant bank notes should return them to police as soon as possible, or they may be committing a theft,' police warned in a statement.

15 million HKD gone in minutes during Hong Kong road accident

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Television footage showed pedestrians dashing in from the pavements to join in the Christmas Eve melee

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Television footage showed pedestrians dashing in from the pavements to join in the Christmas Eve melee

Police superintendent Wan Siu-hung said the driver of the van made it all the way to his destination, a half-hour's drive away, oblivious to the fact that his back door was open and the cash boxes had fallen out.

'When it (the van) arrived at its destination they discovered that the door was open,' Wan told reporters, adding that police would use the serial numbers of the bills to conduct an investigation.

Legal experts told local media that people who kept the banknotes would be committing larceny and could face up to 10 years in jail.