The world can be a pretty scary place these days. There are a million things to worry about, from global warming to gang members with guns. We thought that going down to the local supermarket would be pretty safe, though. It's just buying food – how dangerous can it be?
If you were in the South Norwood Somerfield last week, you'd have found that shopping isn't as safe as it seems. The danger didn't come from non-organic foods or out of date meat though. Shopper Trevor Campbell got a shock when he was picking up some bananas. While searching for a ripe bunch, he ran across a live scorpion.
A live scorpion. In the bananas.
Campbell is far, far braver than Londonist, as we would have dropped the bananas and run screaming out of the shop, never to return. He took the more sensible route of alerting a security guard to the problem and capturing the scorpion in a plastic container. Remaining far calmer than you would expect, he knew just what to do:
"[The security guard] said he couldn't get in touch with the RSPCA so I ended up having to take it to the police station. All the customers were screaming."
We should think they were. We're almost screaming just thinking about it.
You can rest assured though that it is not Somerfield's policy to have deadly and terrifying arachnids wandering through their fruit and veg. A spokesperson assures us that this won't happen again:
"We are currently investigating where the arachnid came from and how it came to be in the bag although it is likely that it travelled with the bananas.
"Our suppliers have a strict code of practice in place for the control of potentially harmful pests, and we are happy with the rigorous procedures used to ensure the best condition of our fresh produce."
We're still going to be very cautious next time we buy fruit. You can never be too careful.
Terrifying scorpion image taken from Charles & Clint's Flickr photostream
