Supermarket chain Tesco is to create 500 new jobs in Scotland.

It is planning to offer permanent jobs to a quarter of the extra staff being recruited for the festive season.

Across the UK, the retailer will be taking on 17,000 employees before Christmas.

It will need 2,000 more staff in Scotland to cope with the extra trade it is expecting between now and Christmas.

Tesco is taking on 2,000 staff for the festive period

That is an average of 26 workers at each of its Scottish stores.

A quarter of the new recruits will be kept on after the festive period and offered permanent jobs.

The company said almost a third of the new posts are likely to go to people aged over 50 and it expects a similar number will be offered to students

Most major retailers take on extra staff in the run up to Christmas.

Asda recently said it would need an additional 1,300 workers in Scotland while Safeway said it was still assessing its needs.

Tesco is already the UK's largest private employer with more than 200,000 employees.

The company currently has 76 stores in Scotland employing about 17,500 people, with 2,000 staff at call centres and distribution centres in Dundee, Livingston, Glasgow and Edinburgh.