A petition about Tesco's "nightmare" self checkouts has received almost quarter of a million signatures.

Pensioner and disability volunteer Pat McCarthy started the campaign after the supermarket giant, which has stores across Gloucestershire, brought in new tills she said are "overwhelming" and "physically difficult" to use.

The petition which currently has more than 222,000 signatures gained momentum on Tuesday after #BringBackTescoStaff began trending on Twitter.

Ms McCarthy, 69, who is a trustee of Disability Network Hounslow, launched the campaign on change.org after noticing that two thirds of the tills in her local Tesco Extra in Osterley were now staffless.

She wrote: "What used to be a great shopping experience has now become physically difficult, overwhelming, and a 'nightmare'.

"At my local Tesco mega-store, and probably all over the country, Tesco is bringing in new self-service and sort-it-out-yourself card only till machines."

"These new tills are not accessible for people who don't have credit cards and can only use cash or those with little confidence to use these self-service card-only tills - myself included.

"People such as carers, older people, many disabled people, especially those with mobility problems, manual dexterity issues or lifting problems are unlikely to be able to use these."

She said the tills are also physically taxing as shoppers have to lift and pack items themselves and take away the experience of chatting to staff which is important for those who live alone.

She added: "I want Ken Murphy the chief executive officer of Tesco's to bring back more staffed tills and check outs."

"I want him to commit to a People & Profit Policy not a Profits before People Policy."

Debate has raged on Twitter about the topic with some saying they prefer self checkout because of social anxiety and others saying we should stop replacing people with machines.

Steve Dresser, CEO of Grocery Insight, tweeted: "I do not understand #BringBackTescoStaff - increases in self service are because the numbers justify it.

"There have been times where too many are installed and then are removed. If you see a colleague; go to their checkout rather than self service.

"Customers drive the bus."

A Tesco spokesperson told Grocery Gazette: "Our colleagues and the friendly service they provide are absolutely vital to our stores and will always be on hand to help our customers, whether they are checking out at one of our colleague-operated or self-service checkouts.

"We first introduced self-service checkouts nearly 20 years ago to give our customers a choice and our stores have both types of checkout."

See the petition here