Freezing supermarket staff have had to forfeit their annual bonus after wearing jumpers and gloves in store.

Shop assistants in Tesco Express in Warren Road, Woodingdean, Brighton, have had to work in icy conditions for months because the store's main automatic door is jammed open.

Workers say the heating system has also jammed up because the cold temperature means it cuts out.

Now the employees have had their yearly bonus slashed from 15 per cent to three per cent after a mystery shopper marked the staff down, saying Tesco's standards had not been met.

Geoffrey Fairchild, whose 19-year-old daughter Lucie works at the store part time, said: "I am a regular customer there and the front door has been broken for eight months.

"The staff have to physically open it in the morning and it stays open all day and then they have to push it together at night.

"The staff are really good, they never complain, despite it being very cold.

"It's ok for the customers, they can get in and out quickly but the poor staff have to grin and bear it all day.

Members of staff wear several layers of clothing and gloves to try to keep warm and Mr Fairchild said his daughter had become so cold that she burst into tears.

He said he had phoned Tesco several times to tell them about the door but no one had been out to fix it.

Mr Fairchild said: "It was okay in the summer months but now it is just laughable it has gone on for so long.

"I would have thought a company like Tesco, with their financial situation, would be able to sort this problem out straight away.

"They are treating their staff terribly. I would have thought that if they couldn't get someone to fix the door straight away they would at least supply their staff with something warmer to wear.

"The mystery shopper may think the staff are not working to best of their ability but how can they when are working in appalling conditions.

"They have been short-staffed because staff who have had colds have not wanted to come into work.

"The bonus is a percentage of the staff's regular pay. It's not fair to take it away, especially over Christmas and when they have been working in those cold conditions.

"I am appalled at the way they have been treated."

A Tesco spokeswoman said: "The problem has been getting an engineer to come and fix the door. It is not ideal.

"Various circumstances have meant we have not been able to get hold of the right people. We are hoping it will be fixed within the next week or so.

"As for the staff bonus, that has no bearing on the way they are dressed, it is about customer service."