TESCO Metro has thrown away its chilled and frozen food after its fridges and freezers broke down due to the hot weather. 

The store on Cowley Road, Oxford cleared tonnes of food from all of its fridges and freezers at around 9.30am this morning.

Shoppers were shocked that food and drink were wasted instead of being given away.

Oxford Mail:

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One shopper said: "I don't agree with how this has been resolved. Staff say it is a liability to give the food to people but it could be given to foodbanks.

"I understand it may be difficult to do in 24 hours but they need to resolve this and it cannot happen again because it's wasteful."

While staff threw away food, a trolley - which sits at the front of the store for people to donate food to Oxford Foodbank - was only half-full with donations.

Tesco says it has not been able to keep the food at the proper temperature and therefore cannot sell the chilled products.

Another shopper said: "All of the fridges were cleared. Vegetables, cheese, even orange juice was being thrown away. All the fridges are now empty.

Oxford Mail:

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"They didn't separate anything - it's really bad. Can you not just give it away? Even staff couldn't take it and nothing was for free."

Fridges in the Tesco branch in St Aldate's, Oxford were also empty today and on Wednesday and fridges were clear in the Cowley Road branch last night too.

Its Faringdon branch also suffered from the heat this week when its fridges failed during the heatwave on Tuesday.

Oxford Mail: Tesco in St Aldate's, OxfordTesco in St Aldate's, Oxford

A handwritten notice in the Cowley Road store reads: "Due to the weather, our fridges/freezers have broken. We are now unable to sell these chilled products. Sorry for the inconvenience this may cause."