TESCO'S controversial demolition of a historic railway station in the West End of Glasgow may have been illegal, it was claimed last night.

TESCO'S controversial demolition of a historic railway station in the West End of Glasgow may have been illegal, it was claimed last night.

A packed public meeting was told the company may not have been given permission by the city council to knock down the 110-year-old Partick Central Ticket Office for a new superstore. And opponents of the store move are now planning to seek legal advice.

The demolition of the building - at 7am on a January Sunday - caused outrage.

Already there have been 1200 letters of opposition plus at least two internet petitions, one to the Executive, another to Tony Blair.

Last night's meeting was attended by around 150 people in Partick Burgh Hall. Chairman of the campaign group, Samer Bagaeen, said he had been told it would cost him £90 for a copy of the building warrant which Tesco claimed authorised the demolition.

Partick councillor Aileen Colleran gave him a copy she had got for nothing and said it was "outrageous" the group was being asked for so much money.

The warrant referred to the demolition of a number of unspecified properties on Castlebank Street.

Mr Bagaeen said: "The station building is not mentioned here. It was on Benalder Street. It seems like it may have been illegal."

Councillor Colleran added: "I think you ought to get some legal representation on that."

She said that if the superstore went ahead as planned, it would be a "nightmare" for Partick.

She added: "I think we have a really good case and Tesco should be nervous because they have had some setbacks recently and they should not assume they have carte blanche to do as they please.

"They have had a few refusals recently in Portobello, Inverness and England. They are on the back foot."

One member of the audience suggested that, if the company did sanction the demolition of the station building illegally, they should be forced to rebuild it.

A transport assessor, Lee Woods, told the meeting he felt the superstore would lead to traffic problems in the area.

He added: "They have agreed that there will be serious problems at the junction of Byres Road and University Road with queues as long as 100 cars.

"They are considering getting rid of the pedestrian phase at the junction and would look at introducing pedestrian islands.

"That would allow pedestrians to cross while the traffic is still moving and I think that is clearly not satisfactory."

Tesco's plan, for a site at Beith Street, covers 9950square metres.

The proposal includes 690 student flats, 220 houses and 500 parking spaces.

Tills ring up £4800-a-minute profit

Supermarket giant Tesco today posted record profits of £2.55billion - equivalent to more than £4800 a minute.

The underlying pre-tax profits for the year to February 24 underlined the store's dominance in the sector.

The figures, much in line with expectations, were more than 13% ahead of the previous year.

The Cheshunt-based company also coped with recovering competition from Asda and Sainsbury's to increase like-for-like UK sales by 5.6%.

It recorded sales of £35.6bn across its 1500 stores in the UK.

And gains following pension changes in April 2006 took the overall pre-tax profits for the year to £2.65bn.

The profits sparked protests from Friends of the Earth, which said the time had come to "curb the power of the Tesco juggernaut". Campaigner Vicki Hird said: "The supermarket giant's market dominance is bad news as it allows it to dictate conditions to suppliers and to drive High Street stores out of existence."

The Competition Commission is also investigating the grocery sector amid claims that the larger stores are using their powers to squeeze out smaller retailers.

Tesco's gathering strength in areas such as DVDs, clothing and household items was shown when it said its UK non-food business had grown sales by 11.6%, despite a tougher domestic consumer environment. The group's non-food sales reached £7.6 bn - 25% of UK sales in total.

The company saw strong growth of electronics, DIY, toys and sports goods from its larger Tesco Extra stores.

Sales in its clothing range also jumped, by 16%.

Tesco, which uses underlying pre-tax profits to measure its performance, posted overall UK trading profits of £1.91 bn - 9.2% up on the last year.

The performance came despite £42million in start-up costs for the company's Tesco Direct catalogue service and establishing its operations in the US, where it is set to open its first stores later on this year.