A mum says she will have 'chipped teeth for life' after biting down on a metal bolt in her kebab takeaway. The 34-year-old woman said she also faces root canal treatment after being on antibiotics for two weeks following the incident.
She had bought her kebab and naan bread meal from a fish and chip shop in the West Midlands and gave a graphic account of what happened as she tucked into her meal: "I eat with the front of my teeth and it was just like a hard crunch. I spat my food out and that is where the bolt was.
The mum-of-one, who wishes to remain anonymous, claims she bought a kebab and naan bread meal from Seavers Fish and Chips shop in Rowley Regis, Sandwell, costing £8.49, Birmingham Live reports. "I literally spat out the bolt. It has chipped two of my teeth in the process," she added.
The bolt, said to measure 1.5cm by 1.2cm, fell off a kebab machine, she said, which the company confirmed also took place. She said she has been told her teeth cannot be fixed, so she will have the chipped teeth for life.
The woman, from Cradley Heath in Sandwell, said she phoned the chip shop "straight away" and complained about what happened. She said: "They asked me to keep the bolt because they needed it back. It was off of their kebab machine."
The woman claims she was also promised a "replacement meal" but she waited for three hours and nobody turned up. She subsequently contacted the environmental health department at Sandwell Council following the incident on June 24.
She claimed the department called her on Wednesday, August 3, informing her that the chip shop had "admitted" to leaving the bolt in her food. However, she claims the council also advised her to contact a solicitor.
She said her meal was part of a bigger order that she had placed for her family, including her 12-year-old son, costing £42.74. She said: "It was quite shocking that it was in my food.
"I was more annoyed and angry than anything. What scared me more than anything is me and son had the same order, so it could have easily been his food.
"I'm not the most confident person anyway. I very rarely leave the house and now I have got these chips in my teeth.
"I have been on antibiotics for two weeks, I broke down in the dentist's room. It is not the nicest, it really isn't."
The woman said she had started to become a regular customer at the chip shop - which has a three-star hygiene rating - having moved from West Bromwich to Cradley Heath, but she has vowed not to shop there again. She said: "I went through Instagram and got in touch (with the chip shop) through there and ended up speaking to one of the owners.
"He was lovely, really nice and very concerned. I ended up talking to him for two weeks. He ended up offering me a £100 voucher for the chippy and I went 'I don't think so'. I am not going back there."
In response to the story, an office manager for the business, who gave his name as Manish, said the company accepted that a bolt fell off one of its kebab cutting machines at the Rowley Regis shop. He said that the chip shop has informed the manufacturer, which is based in Germany, about the incident; while both Sandwell Council and the Food Standards Agency say the incident was a general mistake and human error' after carrying out an investigation.
Manish said the chip shop 'is owned by a consortium, which has nine shops'. He said: "She (the customer) did make a complaint. She has called up Sandwell Council.
"The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has been out. We told them we have followed protocol within the store.
"We also notified the kebab cutting company that it fell off one of their cutters. The FSA are fine with all of our procedures in place and they said it is just a human error, and they said we have done everything that we can.
"Sandwell Council has been out, they have carried out their investigation and checked all of our paperwork. They got back to us and said it is a general mistake and can happen in any business, at any time.
"When the FSA did come out, we admitted that the bolt is ours, it has genuinely come off the machine. We even told FSA that we will provide them with a receipt to prove we actually bought a new screw.
"We are not denying the fact at all. It is just a general mistake that has happened, it has fallen off one of the kebab cutters that we have purchased. It is not one of our own, it is one from Germany, so we have informed the company themselves that this has happened. We have got the same cutter in eight or nine shops.
"We have admitted liability and dealt with it internally as well, with the manager. The FSA has been out and carried out their full investigation and checked our paperwork.
"It is all logged that the screw did fall off. We have got evidence to prove we did buy a new screw.
"We are not denying the fact that it happened. We apologised to the customer."
Manish confirmed that the chip shop has offered the customer a £100 voucher. "It is a general thing, an apology, the food hasn't been sent out again, we are just trying to keep customers on side ourselves," he said.
