SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has apologised to customers after it ran out of free plastic bags at its Huntingdon store. Staff at the supermarket have told The Hunts Post that furious customers were dumping their shopping when they discovered there were no bags

SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has apologised to customers after it ran out of free plastic bags at its Huntingdon store.

Staff at the supermarket have told The Hunts Post that furious customers were dumping their shopping when they discovered there were no bags.

An employee at the store, who wished to remain anonymous, said customers were given no warning and were only told about the missing free bags when they reached the checkout.

She added that staff felt "railroaded into hard-selling" bags for life, which cost 9p each.

"It is despicable that a store of that size is allowed to let customers down in this way," she said. "Staff felt like they were bullying customers into buying the reusable bags. Customers were really unhappy and staff were frustrated. Complaints were flying in."

It is believed that the store's daily allocation of 6,000 bags had been used by 6pm.

"No announcement or apology was made over the speaker phone," the Tesco worker said. "Boxes were available but they were at the back of the till not at the tills. People were dumping a lot of their shopping and because we couldn't get to it in time there was a lot of wastage as the chilled food had to be disposed of.

"We failed so many customers, some just walked out.

"I understand the reasoning behind trying to reduce bags to help the environment but having none at all is a disgrace."

A Tesco spokesman said: "We did run out of free plastic bags at the store on Tuesday.

"This is a rare occurrence and we apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused. We offered free boxes to shoppers.