A spokesman for Tesco said, “There are 432 jobs at the Dundee depot at the moment. Unfortunately, we are landlocked by the site at present with no real opportunity to expand.

“The depot won’t be closing until summer 2007, which is basically 16 months away, we wanted to tell staff at the earliest opportunity what was happening and that process started today.

“The shifts are being told as they arrive at work today. Obviously with the time-frame we have at our disposal we can look at the options available, some of which will include relocating to another opportunity, which would include a relocation fee, as well as redundancy packages.”

The spokesman said that the customer service centre would not be affected by the relocation and would remain in place.

Although the move has been rubberstamped for the summer of 2007 the spokesman said the new depot in Livingston was still awaiting planning permission from East Lothian council, but he did not anticipate any problems.

One shell-shocked employee contacted the Tele to speak of his disbelief.

He said, “We were called into the office today and told the news. There’s a real feeling of shock around the place. I don’t think anyone would have believed they were set to close the entire depot.

“It’s all not very clear, I guess we just have to wait and see. They did mention relocation, but I don’t think many people other than managers would really want that. A lot of us are from Dundee and wouldn’t want to up sticks and leave everything else behind.”

There have been long-term concerns over the future of the Baird Avenue depot.

In 2003, some 30 jobs were shed at the plant prompting fears that the end game was being played out for the depot.

At the time it seemed cheap labour in India was the greatest threat hanging over the depot so it may come as a surprise to many that the jobs are being moved to Livingston.

Tesco is one of the largest employers in the city with several stores located throughout the city.

Dundee and Tayside Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Mervyn Rolfe said Tesco’s announcement was “deeply disturbing”.

He said it was now imperative that a meeting be arranged with Tesco to discuss the redundancy situation and the company’s commitment to its other units in the area.

He said, “Clearly this is a very serious situation for the individuals concerned. It is a deeply disappointing to here this type of announcement.

“When Tesco originally took over from William Low’s they gave us a very firm assurance about their continuing commitment to the Dundee area – a commitment they area now clearly willing to break.

“I would hope the politicians, and the chamber would obviously want to join with them, will be looking for an early meeting with Tesco to try to salvage something from the current proposals.”