‘Icy’ conditions in Tesco blamed on malfunction with heating units

A source at the Millennium Way store contacted the paper claiming management had been refusing to put on the heating for their staff.

The person said it was particularly bad for those working on the tills for long stretches and several employees had to wear fleeces, scarves and even gloves while working the check outs.

According to the source, employees had contacted the health and safety department and their union about the issue, but to no avail.

The employee said: “The girls on the check outs are doing everything they can to keep warm. Customers have been complaining too.

“When I get home I have to sit in the bath to defrost myself.”

The source added: “It was the opposite in the summer when it was too hot and we needed air conditioning and they wouldn’t put it on.”

The ‘MAIL’ visited the store on two occasions and we felt the store was colder than normal.

Members of staff echoed the sentiments of our source that there had been a refusal to put the heat on.

One check out girl said her feet were like ‘blocks of ice’.

Tesco were contacted by the ‘MAIL’ and the claims of a refusal to turn on the heat were put to them.

They said the fall in temperature was due to a fault occurring in the last two weeks.

A spokesperson said: “There have been a few cold days in the store where the units were not working properly but these have now been fixed.”

They said during the malfunction the temperature in the store had not fallen below their ‘set point’ of 18 degrees celsius.