TESCO has confirmed that it has sacked four workers caught in a theft racket.

In November the Advertiser reported that 10 staff from the Tesco Extra Ocotal Way store had been suspended after an alleged cash fiddle was discovered.

Police were called in to investigate and this week Tesco said that four people had been dismissed. Six have returned to work.

A spokesman said: "The police are looking at taking further action against four people out of 10, and six have been reinstated and are back at work now."

The spokesman said that he would not confirm what the alleged racket involved, nor how much money was involved.

He said the police investigation was on-going and no further details could be revealed.

Tesco also launched an internal investigation, but the results of that have not been made public.

Swindon police were unavailable for comment and Mick Green, the regional organiser of the Union Of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers who was representing the staff, was also unavailable.

Usdaw, which has a large membership in the store, came into support not just the staff involved in the allegations, but also colleagues who might be affected by it.

In November Tesco said that the incident involved the theft of store property, but would not confirm whether this covered money, goods or both.

Nor did it say whether the tills were involved.

It did state, however, that none of the staff suspended was a manager.

l The Ocotal Way store has been a 24-hour shop for six days a week for three years.

It is one of the company's largest supermarkets in the south west, and has received planning permission to expand even further.

The application last year was for an extension of 15,000 square metres, which was passed after being turned down twice. The supermarket said it would create 50 new jobs.

Tom Morton