THOUSANDS of Safeway leaflet distributors are to lose their jobs following the chain's takeover.

Morrisons bought Safeway for £3bn this year and has started to amalgamate the two businesses.

But The Northern Echo has learned that the Bradford-based group plans to ditch Safeway's primary marketing tool - glossy discount offers pushed through the letter boxes of thousands of homes across England and Scotland.

About 470 people in the North-East and many more across Britain are employed either directly by Safeway or by agencies sub-contracted by the supermarket group to deliver more than seven million leaflets to homes in the vicinity of local stores.

Morrisons pledged to offer leaflet droppers the chance to work inside its stores.

A company spokesman said: "Those who are affected are in consultation and all of them are being offered other opportunities for redeployment within the stores.

"Part of the ongoing plan (for the merger) is that we will not be using the leaflets Safeway currently uses."

The news was broken to the staff across the region during the course of this week.

While a number of employees are likely to accept the offer of work in-store, others voiced concerns over the move.

One worker, who asked not to be named, said: "This has come as a big shock. We thought we were safe but now we find out we have to stack shelves if we want to keep our jobs."

Safeway's leaflet distribution marketing strategy was introduced by former chief executive Carlos Criado Perez when he took over in July 1999.

With 480 stores stretching from Lerwick in Scotland to Jersey and Guernsey in the Channel Islands, the size and scope of the leaflet division was extensive.

The company said leafleting was "extremely successful" but did not fit with Morrisons' marketing strategy.

Morrisons formally took charge of Safeway on March 8 after a long-running battle to buy the company.

Sir Ken Morrison, executive chairman, sparked a fierce battle in January 2003 by trying to seize control of its rival.

Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and BHS owner Philip Green all expressing an interest in acquiring the Middlesex-based group.

Morrisons must sell 53 Safeway stores over the next 18 months to appease the Competitions Commission as part of the deal.