BARCLAYS says it is too early to tell whether any of its North-East customers were affected by a blunder in which account holders' credit card details were given out.

About 1,500 customers across the country received quarterly bank statements containing other people's account and credit card details.

The bank has now written to those affected to apologise, but has stressed that the security of accounts were not at risk.

A spokeswoman said: "This is being investigated at the moment and is an error that we take very seriously.

"We are currently gathering more details in terms of exactly who has been affected and where they live."

Updated 15.20, Thursday, July 12