As student grants go, it was an improbably large sum. But when the cash machine told William Bowen he had £2 million in his account, he could think of no other explanation.

“I was surprised to say the least,” William, 16, said yesterday. “I thought it was something to do with the Government’s education maintenance allowance scheme, which funds sixth-formers to encourage us to stay in school.”

Pushing aside any doubts that he may have harboured about the sudden 66,666-fold rise in his usual £30-a-week payment, he made the most of the windfall and withdrew £300, the maximum allowed in any one day.

“My first port of call was Curry’s and I bought myself a new iPod and then I just went bananas around town. I bought a new pair of pumps, some jeans, T-shirts, the lot. It was like my birthday and Christmas rolled into one.”

On arriving home with his purchases he told his mother, Joanne, that he had received a “massive grant” from the Government. “She clasped her hand to her head and said, ‘What have you done?’ ” Mrs Bowen said: “I went straight to the bank and discovered that the account had been put £300 into arrears.”

The £2 million turned out to be an error linked to his new Visa Electron card. Mrs Bowen said that she was “really surprised” when the card was sent to him. It emerged this week that Lloyds TSB has been sending Visa-enabled debit cards to children as young as 11 without parental permission.

Now William, of Woodside, Shropshire, has to settle the debt himself. “I owe them £300 and my mum refuses to pay,” he said.

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