LONDON (Reuters) - People phoning a bank helpline have been greeted not by the staid tones of a financial adviser but by disco music and a claim that they had found Britain's "best place for men to meet men".

The Halifax said on Thursday it had inadvertently issued the number of a gay chatline when it sent out 15,000 letters to members of its share-dealing service.

"Unfortunately, one of the digits of the number was wrong in the body of the letter, which resulted in customers phoning a gay chatline instead," a Halifax spokeswoman told Reuters. The bank, Britain's top mortgage lender, has since written to customers to apologize and to let them know of the right number -- for their share-dealings.