SUPERMARKET staff not only raised cash for Operation Covert but also answered the age old question: how many steps do seven Sainsbury's employees take during a days work on Christmas Eve?

Fellow employees had to guess the amount, which finally came in at a whopping 77,000 between 8.30am and 5.30pm, and the winner was given a bottle of their choice by the store, in Crossley Park, Kidderminster.

Staff used a pedometer, a device which is attached to the belt to measure steps taken, and the winner estimated a total of 78,000 steps. Sponsorship money from the challenge came in at more than £500.

One of the ladies who took on the challenge, customer service assistant Lesley Hicks, said: "We had from the extreme to the ridiculous, from a very few steps to quite a few. The highest one we got was 101,000 and the lowest was 3,000."

Mrs Hicks, a Beaver leader at Kidderminster's KD15 Scout group, added: "A lot of the people who work at Sainsbury's, their children have all been part of different Scout groups at one time or another so we thought it was a good opportunity."

It might sound like a lot, but 77,000 was easy work compared to the height of the Christmas rush, she said.

"It wasn't as busy as we thought Christmas Eve was going to be, if it had been done the day before, on the Thursday, I don't know how many steps we would have taken."