CUSTOMERS using a high street bank will be asked for their support to stop jobs being exported to India -- a move which could threaten 150 local workers.

Staff at Lloyds TSB Group Union, the LTU, are protesting about telephone operators manning call centres from India where costs are rock bottom and staff easier to find.

It will picket customers at the Market Street branch in Chorley from August 8 to highlight concerns that a recent national pilot -- which involved 250 jobs being moved to Bangalore -- will be extended, affecting thousands of workers in service centres, call centres and other non-branch operations.

Lloyds TSB employs 150 staff at its base at Clayton Green Business Park and these are the type of jobs that might eventually be affected by the export move.

Steve Tatlow, the union's assistant general secretary, said: "We believe most customers will agree that the bank has a social responsibility to ensure that jobs are retained in the UK. I am sure they would prefer their accounts to be dealt with in the UK.

"The pilot to move 250 jobs to Bangalore will probably prove to be a success so we are trying to head the Lloyd's TSB off at the pass by protesting before any jobs are permanently moved abroad.

"We are urging people in Chorley to help keep these jobs local."

Call centres are springing up across Indian urban areas which attract highly qualified staff who are taught English and encouraged to westernise their appearances, accents and interests.

Many British companies use the foreign centres as cost-cutting measures and customers often do not realise their call is being answered thousands of miles away.

Workers at British Telecom threatened to strike in June when plans to move 2,200 jobs to Bangalore at the end of 2004 were revealed.

Members of the LTU, which represents 45,000 members across the Lloyds TSB group, will be outside the branch from Friday for a week.