Lloyds TSB, one of the biggest providers of UK current accounts in the country, has apologised to its customers for keeping them hanging on the telephone.

Some callers to the bank have been kept waiting for ten minutes or more listening to recorded messages, while the bank takes up to half of the 3p a minute call on the 0845 number, a situation that has provoked many complaints.

Customer Diane Collier was far from impressed with the service she has received lately. “I have always had a current account with Lloyds TSB but this latest fiasco means that I’m seriously considering a change of bank.

“Lloyds TSB announced a while ago that it was shutting its Bombay-based call centre and giving us a ‘quicker and more efficient’ service on the phone.

“Apparently, though, it failed to recruit enough operators back here at home and despite claiming that many calls can be dealt with automatically, they obviously can’t.”

She concluded: “I gave up last week after hanging on for fifteen minutes listening to a recorded message. It’s a disgrace.”

Unions and staff organisations have accused the bank of misleading customers and employees by claiming that its voice-activated phone system would deal adequately with UK current accounts customers’ queries.