TESCO has put up a notice of apology on the site of the collapsed bridge in Gerrards Cross but angry protestors are asking why it has taken the supermarket a year to say sorry.

The supermarket has this week posted a note at the entrance to the desolate building site at the railway station which has been left a wasteland since the 320-metre railway tunnel over the Chiltern Line collapsed a year ago today.

Addressed "Dear Resident" and apologising for the inconvenience, the note has angered campaigners who are frustrated by the fact that they still have not heard anything from Tesco on the future of the store.

Campaigner Ros Hurn, of Bulstrode Way Gerrards Cross, said: "As far as I know this is the first time Tesco has ever put up any form of apology.

"The only apology signs that have been put up have been by companies like Chiltern Railways which Tesco has used as a mouthpiece to express their regret. Why has it taken them until now to have their name on an apology?"

She added: "There's a feeling of immense frustration because we just cannot get any information at all from Tesco."

The new sign informs residents that an update on the future of the site may be given to them in August.

Yet it was hoped that the future of the site would be determined by now.

This is because Costain, the construction company which in March took over the management of the ill-fated project from Jackson Civil Engineering, was expected to have published its report on the store's future around this time of year.

Yet so far there has been no word.

Work on the new store was put on hold on June 30 last year when the bridge that was being built to support the four-and-half-acre supermarket collapsed and some 10,000 tons of spoil fell onto the rail track.

The disaster disrupted the rail network for weeks and caused delays and confusion for commuters.

Mrs Hurn said that campaigners like herself were never in favour of having such a large supermarket in their town.

To continue their campaign they are staging a peaceful hour-long protest at Gerrards Cross station this morning the anniversary of the collapse.

Peter Hardy, leader of South Bucks District Council, is expected to be among those joining the protest.

Tesco was unavailable for comment before the Free Press went to press.