Jason Manford has revealed was turned down for a job at Tesco after applying to help during the coronavirus pandemic.

The comedian said he applied to become a driver for the supermarket chain as he had recently become unemployed as he “wanted to feel useful”.

Jason shared a letter of rejection he’d received from Tesco on social media, with a spokesperson from the supermarket later saying that he’d missed the deadline for the job. 

The Masked Singer contestant joked that he was “absolutely livid” about the rejection, adding: “I was only trying to do my bit. I hope the better person got and enjoys the job, I’ll be watching.”

He said he had submitted his application earlier on in the coronavirus pandemic “when it looked like supermarkets etc were going to need thousands of extra hands”.

“I even signed my CV off ‘Previous experience: comedian. So I know it’s all in the delivery’,” he joked. “Still nothing!”

The supermarket rep aded: “Jason’s skills would have no doubt brought a lot of joy to our customers and colleagues, so it’s a shame he didn’t make the deadline for this vacancy.

“But should he ever want to join the Tesco family in the future, we’d be happy to receive an application from him.”

Over the last few weeks, Jason has been working as a volunteer for the NHS and has been doing jobs such as taking the elderly and vulnerable to hospital. 

He said that his voluntary work had made him “more aware than ever the differences in society”.

“Chatting to some of the people I’ve driven the last few weeks has only highlighted how hard the lockdown has been for people with less,” he said. “I feel extremely fortunate.”

Prior to lockdown, Jason was appearing in a touring production of the musical Curtains.

The show was due to run until mid-April, but the curtain came down a month early when theatres across the country were closed due to the pandemic.