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Tesco has confirmed that it will NOT honour its £50 iPad offer after a glitch saw the gadgets sold online at more than 90 per cent discount.

Shoppers crashed the Tesco Direct website on Tuesday after the latest iPad 3 4G 64GB model was advertised at just £49.99.

But in an email to disappointed shoppers yesterday, the supermarket giant refused to honour the deal.

Critics immediately branded the incident a PR stunt and claimed it was simply a cynical move to get customer’s contact details.

Tesco’s snub set Twitter users into a frenzy, with one user commenting: “Have a feeling the £50 Tesco iPad 3 'glitch' was in fact a rather genius PR stunt to massively plump their pre-orders."

Another customer joked: “Tesco have cancelled the order for my £49.99 iPad. In return I'll fill a trolley with food, take it to the checkout and leave it there.”

As tens of thousands of shoppers raced to get their hands on the bargain Apple tablet earlier this week, Tesco blamed the mispricing on an “IT error”.

In an email to customers yesterday, Tesco said: "Thank you for your recent Tesco Direct order for an IPAD WI-FI 4G 64GB.

"Unfortunately, there was an error in the price at the time that you placed your order, and as a result we have had to cancel your order.

"No payment has been taken for this order.

"Please refer to our Tesco Direct Terms and Conditions for further details of our order acceptance policy.

“If you would like to re-order the IPAD, on the official launch date on Friday 16th March it will be available on our website at the correct price £659."

A spokesperson also said: “We always look to offer our customers unbeatable value but unfortunately this is an IT error which is being corrected.”

But hundreds of furious customers have already signed an online petition demanding that the retailer honours the deal.

Earlier this year, Marks and Spencer were forced to sell Panasonic 50 inch 3D plasma televisions, which retail at around £1,000, for just £199 after it was incorrectly priced.