The employee said, “Two days out of a whole year, Tesco Riverside staff get to finish early — Christmas Eve and Hogmanay. Staff who work, say, from 5pm to 11pm come in early and finish about an hour after the store closes, usually about 7pm.”

However, the staff member said this year would be different.

“Because of this, staff who do these shifts are having to stay until 11pm so the shop can be filled for the Boxing Day trading,” the employee said.

“Staff will have to work their normal hours on Hogmanay as well. I’ve been told the managers were scared to tell staff about the change.

“A lot of people I work with rely on babysitters and they say no one will want to babysit that late on Christmas Eve and Hogmanay.”

The staff member described the mood in the store over the prospect of working until late at night on the two days as “not very good”.

“I would like to ask how staff members are supposed to get home at that time of night as public transport stops running early on these two days.”

The employee added, “Checkout staff will also have to stay and fill shelves, even though most of them are not trained on pulling cages and don’t have the proper footwear — that is causing ructions.”

A Tesco spokesman told the Tele, “Customers want us to open on Boxing Day so we have asked staff to work their normal shifts on Christmas Eve to get the stores ready.”

“By asking the whole team to help on Christmas Eve we’ll get the job done quicker and all our staff can go home to their families as early as possible. Christmas is a very busy time of year for Tesco and we’re extremely grateful for the extra effort our staff put in.”