NEWTON Abbot and Teignmouth customers have escaped cuts to local bank services.

Lloyds and Halifax have become the latest high street banks to announce more branch closures, affecting 40 sites, adding to an industry tally of more than 200 branches shuttering in the coming months.

The Newton Abbot branches of Lloyds and Halifax in Courtenay Street are not included on the banks’ list of closures. Lloyds Bank also has a branch in Teignmouth’s Wellington Street.

Lloyds Banking Group, which owns both banks, said it planned to close 18 Halifax sites and 22 Lloyds branches in England and Wales, over a three-month period beginning in April.

They say customers had been visiting those branches in declining numbers, with visits falling by about 60% on average over the past five years.

The rise of digital banking has caused high street lenders to retreat from the high street with more than 200 additional closures in the pipeline for the coming months.