Grandad finds snake in bag of broccoli he bought in Aldi
A snake that was exploring a broccoli field in south-western Europe got packed up and shipped to a British Aldi shop, only to be rediscovered by a miffed man from Birmingham.
Neville Linton, 63, picked up the stem of broccoli from the supermarket in Stourbridge, West Midlands, a month ago.
The vegetable was left in the fridge for three days before Neville plucked it out, unwrapped it and found the tiny ladder snake amazingly still alive.
Not the world’s biggest snake fan, the grandad-of-one backed away and called for his sister Ann-Marie Tenkanemin to come and give him a hand.
Neville said: ‘I’m not good with snakes.
‘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.’
Ladder snakes, which are mostly found around Spain and Portugal, are not venomous but have been known to nip humans.
Neville and Ann-Marie put the creature in a tub and drove back to the Aldi where the broccoli had originally been bought, so they could present it to a shop assistant.
The snake was promptly taken to the more appropriate premises of Dudley Zoo, where an expert identified the species.
While Neville has been offered compensation, he has argued that it is not enough as the reptile posed a risk to his disabled son and vulnerable mother.
He said: ‘It’s just not good enough – the implications for us if it had got out in the house are huge.
‘Plus, I’m phobic of snakes so there’s the emotional impact of that too.’
A spokesperson for Aldi 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.’
In 2021, a family in Australia got a nasty surprise when a venomous baby pale-headed snake turned up in a pack of lettuce they had bought from Aldi.
And in 2017, a stowaway snake from Costa Rica was found hiding among the leaves of an Aldi pineapple that was bought in Edinburgh.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.