A CRISP company says it has lost a packet over a carefully weighed-up money scam which has led to two workers being sacked and a further seven suspended.

Snack food maker Walkers yesterday confirmed it had taken the tough disciplinary action at its Peterlee factory, in County Durham, after discovering that cash prizes had been stolen from bags on its production line.

Senior management at the company ordered an investigation after £20, £10 and £5 notes, along with vouchers, started going missing from products.

The cash and voucher prizes were all part of a promotion by Walkers, known as Moneybags.

An employee at the factory, who did not want to be named, claimed that a number of workers had been boasting of making up to £250 a week out of the scam.

It is believed that those taking part in the thefts had access to a special weighing machine. If packets weighed more than normal, the perpetrators knew they contained one of the prizes.

A spokeswoman for the company said that following disciplinary hearings two employees from the plant had been dismissed.

She said: "We have established through an internal investigation that certain sums of money, which should have been inserted in packs, have been deliberately removed.

"We have already introduced changes to our security and monitoring procedures."