BANKING giant Lloyds apologised after customers were locked out of their accounts and were unable to access online services.

The high street lender did not specify the number of customers that were affected but said that services for the majority of its customers and for its Halifax and Bank of Scotland units had not been affected.

It also said the issue only affected customers accessing their accounts online via desktops and that customers were still able to log in to mobile and tablet apps.

A Lloyds spokesperson said the glitch, which emerged in the morning, was resolved by 5pm.

They added: “We apologise for the disruption some customers experienced today.”

It came less than a month after almost 400,000 transactions were delayed across the three Lloyds brands due to online payment processing woes.

Several Lloyds customers used social media to complain about not being able to log in to their online accounts.

One Twitter user said: “I still cannot log in to online banking app. My internet is perfectly fine. I need to check my balance and other things.”

Another said: “ETA when online banking will be up and running? Apologies are pretty useless to those trying to sort payments.”

IT outages have regularly hobbled UK banks, notably TSB last year following its botched migration, while others such as HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland have also struggled with glitches.