London, Mar 05: A British bank union has claimed that 800 jobs at Lloyds TSB in Andover, Hampshire, are at risk because of the bank's plan to export work to India. Members of the Lloyds TSB Group Union (LTU) say that 1,500 jobs will be transferred to Bangalore and Hyderabad by the end of the year - and they fear many more would follow.

A spokeswoman for Lloyds TSB confirmed that 1,500 jobs were to be transferred to India, but she pointed out that it related to the entire group, which also includes Scottish Widows.

She could not, however, say where the jobs would be lost.

"It's too early to say where they will be coming from, but we are committed to keeping staff informed and they will be the first to know," she added. The move comes after a successful small-scale pilot scheme in India.

The spokeswoman said there were already a number of 'roles' or jobs in India.

Lloyds TSB has already announced the closure of its call centre in Newcastle and it said last month that, to begin with, 150 jobs from its insurance operations in Newport and Bournemouth would be moved to India by September.

LTU assistant general secretary Nick Holt said: "In Andover, the bank has a number of operations at Charlton Place and Keen's House where over 800 staff members deal with back office processing and customer enquiries.

"LTU believes these jobs are at risk from the bank's actions."

This week members of the union have been in High Street collecting signatures from customers of the bank and members of the public. Bureau Report