A grandad was left frightened after pulling broccoli out of the fridge before finding a live snake tucked inside. Neville Linton says he bought the broccoli from Aldi and kept it in the fridge at home.
As he opened the packaging while preparing a meal three days later, the 63-year-old spotted the young ladder snake. With Neville terrified of the creature, his relatives stepped in to scoop the creature up.
"It was pretty frightening," he said. "I'm not good with snakes.
Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features
"It's lucky I didn't just leave the broccoli out in the kitchen, or it would have been loose in the house. That would have been a huge risk for us because we have two vulnerable people living here."
The snake, which is capable of a nasty bite, was tucked up near the stem of the broccoli when he unwrapped the veg on his kitchen counter. Quickly realising it was too big to be a caterpillar, he called for his sister Ann-Marie Tenkanemin, 57, who identified it as a snake.
The pair popped it in a tub and drove it back to the Aldi store where Neville had bought the veg. The grandad-of-one said: "I thought she was joking at first, but I backed off when I saw it start moving.
"The guy in the shop was pretty frightened too." It was later taken to nearby Dudley Zoo, West Midlands, where it was identified as a ladder snake.
The species is from south western Europe and, although not venomous, can give humans a nasty nip. Ladder snakes are mostly found in Portugal, Spain, southern France and parts of Italy.
They can become aggressive when threatened and are capable of letting off a foul odour. Neville added: "I'm phobic of snakes so there's the emotional impact of that too."
Join our WhatsApp Top Stories and Breaking News group by clicking this link
An Aldi spokesperson said: “Our supplier has never had a complaint of this nature and has robust processes in place to prevent such issues occurring. We are investigating this isolated incident and have apologised to Mr Linton that our usual high standards were not met."
