Mum Beryl Chambers claims she was sacked from her job at Sainsbury's after taking time off after losing her baby.

Ms Chambers, 28, of Asquith Road, Rose Hill, Oxford, took up a job as a part-time checkout assistant, at Sainsbury's Heyford Hill store in Oxford, in May.

At the start of June she discovered she was pregnant - but a couple of weeks later was devastated to lose the baby.

Ms Chambers, who has three other young children, says she was diagnosed as suffering from depression after the ordeal and took time off from work as a result.

But when she returned to work on July 10, she was told she no longer had a job.

Ms Chambers said: "The reason they gave was the high level of authorized and unauthorised absence, but they had sick notes and knew exactly what was wrong with me. I was absolutely devastated."

Ms Chambers, who is still taking anti-depressants, plans to take the supermarket chain to an industrial tribunal, claiming unfair dismissal.

She is also having to cope with bringing up her three children alone after her partner, and father of her youngest child, walked out in May.

The break-up also led to her taking three to four days off work at the time so she could retrieve furniture and electrical items.

Ms Chambers added: "I accept that I had a lot of time off work, but it was unavoidable.

"I was just getting myself back on the straight and narrow when they sacked me."

A spokesman for Sainsbury's said: "It's a private matter between us and Beryl Chambers."

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