THOUSANDS of head office and corporate staff at Tesco will be sent to work on the shop floor in the run-up to Christmas as part of an initiative by new chief executive Dave Lewis.

The scheme will result in more than 4,000 employees, including Mr Lewis and other senior executives, stacking shelves and operating tills to try to reconnect those running the group with the needs of customers.

They must spend one day every fortnight - on a Thursday or Friday - in a store between now and Christmas.

Those involved will include new finance director Alan Stewart, recruited from Marks & Spencer, who will have to take time out from getting to grips with the accounts, amid a regulatory probe over a £250 million overstatement of profit expectations.