BUNGLING bank contractors left a busy high street branch wide open.

Contractors for Barclays forgot to lock up after picking up documents from the building in Gateshead.

Bank staff had locked up the building after leaving the Low Fell branch on Friday afternoon.

Barclays was only alerted to the security lapse when a customer simply strolled in to the empty branch the following day.

With no staff in sight, and no security alarm sounding, the confused member of the public alerted the police.

Officers were quickly on the scene and secured the site before calling the bank's security firm to safely lock up the building.

Barclays insisted documents and cash were all safely locked away, and thanked the customer for alerting police.

A bank spokeswoman said: ''Incidents of this nature are very rare and we do take them very seriously.

''We will be reviewing the circumstances with the third party contractor, whose standards appear to have fallen short on this occasion.

''We will also be thanking our customer for their vigilance.''

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: ''Shortly after 1pm on Saturday, April 4, police were called to reports of an unsecured premises at Barclays Bank in Durham Road, Low Fell.

''Officers attended and alerted the bank security staff who attended and secured the premises.''