THE FATE of thousands of Safeway workers across the county, including 1,200 at a depot in Aylesford, could depend on the ruling of a Kent woman.

Penny Boys, deputy director of the Office of Fair Trading and Hadlow resident, will play a pivotal role in sorting out the scramble to buy the struggling supermarket chain.

A £2.9 billion bid by Morrisons triggered a string of other potential bids, with Sainsbury's, Wal-Mart, Tesco, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts -- an American investment vehicle said to be receiving advice from Tunbridge Wells MP Archie Norman -- and Philip Green, owner of BHS and Arcadia, all entering the ring.

Under the Morrison deal, initially recommended by the Safeway board but later disowned as the value of the deal fell, around 1,200 jobs would go nationwide, mainly from Safeway's head office in Hayes, Middlesex, which would close in 2005.

Jonathan Shaw, MP for Chatham and Aylesford, said he had received assurances from Morrisons that the Aylesford depot would not be shut. But the arrival of so many bidders makes the future more uncertain.

The interest by rival supermarket chains would trigger an automatic referral to the Competition Commission for a decision because they would each create a business with more than a quarter of the UK grocery market.

They were sounding out OFT opinion before making their next move. Miss Boys moved centre stage because her boss John Vickers stood aside because of a possible conflict of interest.

The other bidders would raise fewer competition concerns but many suppliers, including farmers fearing that Wal-Mart would squeeze prices even tighter, were hoping that Morrisons, the UK's fifth grocery retailer, would be successful.

The Morrisons bid was not expected to face a competition referral because of Morrisons strength in the North and Safeway's in the south.

Morrisons claimed that the bid would "create a new dynamic force in UK food retailing”. A merged company would have combined sales of more than £12.6bn, a 16 per cent market share, and 598 stores.

Safeway operates a number of stores across the county and an award-winning distribution depot in Beddow Way, Aylesford, employing around 1,100 people. The depot supplies more than 100 stores in London, the South East, the Channel Islands and even Gibraltar.

Morrison's move followed months of speculation about the under-performing Safeway supermarket chain that is the fourth largest in the country but has struggled to keep pace with tough competitors such as Tesco and Asda.

Carlos Criado-Perez, Safeway's Argentinian chief executive, said he would step down if the Morrison deal went ahead. He is credited with improving Safeway's fortunes with promotional offers and saturation leaflet distribution.

During a visit to Aylesford in July 2001 to receive the Queen's Award for Enterprise, he paid tribute to the efforts of local staff in helping transform Safeway's fortunes.

The award marked five years of "outstanding performance in supply management."