Woman hospitalised after drinking coffee in Waitrose which had cleaning liquid in it

 
Waitrose: the woman was treated at the branch in Lewes
Robin de Peyer26 March 2014

A woman who drank free coffee in Waitrose was left needing hospital treatment because it contained a cleaning solution.

The unnamed woman was referred to a specialist burns unit after being treated by paramedics at a branch of the high-end supermarket in Lewes, East Sussex.

Waitrose apologised for the "unfortunate incident" after the woman's husband flagged up what had happened in a post on a community website.

"My wife had a coffee from the machine in Waitrose and maybe they hadn't rinsed the machine out so she ended up drinking a cup of coffee containing cleaning chemicals and then we both spent the morning in the lovely (not) Brighton A&E," he wrote.

"Then after we came back home to add insult to injury Waitrose called to say the chemical they said it was wasn't the right one so the wife had been checked for the wrong thing."

He later wrote that his wife was still suffering from the reaction to the fluid in her mouth almost a week after the cup in question.

He posted: "Well 5 days later my wife is still unwell and we just received a letter of apology from Waitrose with a £25 voucher.

"Am I the only the only one who thinks that's not really compensatory for the injury and suffering, having to spend hours in A&E, missing a weekend away etc, etc."

A Waitrose spokesman said the £25 voucher had been "sent in error", adding that the woman has been given a larger sum since.

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"We are very sorry that there was an unfortunate incident in our Lewes Branch on March 8 when a customer accidentally received some very dilute cleaning fluid in her hot drink," he said.

"Our branch first aider immediately attended the customer and, as a precaution, called an ambulance. We have confirmed that the cleaning fluid does not have any long term impact on health, given the small quantities consumed, but we are very sorry for what would have been an unpleasant experience.

"We have taken action to ensure that this doesn't happen again and will be talking directly to the customer to apologise for this distressing experience."

A South East Coast Ambulance spokeswoman said: "We were called to a woman who suffered a reaction in her mouth after drinking coffee which was thought to contain a cleaning solution.

"An ambulance was sent and the patient was assessed and treated on scene before being advised to attend Queen Victoria Hospital for further advice and treatment."

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