B&M apologises after a man falls ill on Christmas Day after drinking ‘exploding’ beer six months out of date
B&M has been forced to apologise after a man with cancer fell ill from drinking dangerous “exploding” beer on Christmas Day.
Huw John was given the beers as a treat and is currently battling stage four throat cancer and is and is fed by a tube.
After opening the dodgy 500ml Shipyard IPA beers, the bottle exploded over the turkeyand after a sip Huw immediately started throwing up on December 25.
The beers were bought in a B&M store at Western Avenue Retail Park in Cardiff by Huw’s partner Jane Proctor, 61, who had no idea the drinks were out of date.
She said: “It exploded all over the Christmas dinner.
“He had a quick mouthful to stop the foam from going all over the turkey and promptly vomited.
“It spoiled our Christmas day.
“I’m angry and I’m certainly not going in that shop ever again.”
After realising it smelled and tasted funny, Jane quickly checked the expiry date of the beers and was horrified to find out they’d gone off in June.
By the time her severely ill husband had sipped the drink, it had already been out of date for six months.
After vomiting, Huw couldn’t have anything else and Jane was fuming that Christmas dinner had been completely ruined by the shopping error.
He was rushed to the hospital the next day for antibiotics as a safety precaution because they weren’t sure what the other side effects could be.
She said: “I thought because my partner can’t eat – he was diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer last year and is tube fed – as a treat for Christmas I would get him some IPA, which he likes.
“It would take him a long time to drink because he can only take small sips, but I thought it would be nice for him to sip while we were having our Christmas dinner.”
Jane had only swung by the budget retailer to pick up some dog food and hadn’t even set out to buy any alcohol.
Next to the pet food were deals on beer so she grabbed the three Shipyard IPA beers for £5 as a festive surprise.
After Christmas day was ruined, Jane went back to the store and was disgusted to find lots more out of date beer stocked on the shelves, with one even expiring the previous March.
She said the staff were “uninterested” when she explained what had happened and “did not apologise” for stocking dangerous beers on the shelves.
Despite lodging a formal complaint, Jane hasn’t heard back and has vowed never to step foot in a B&M store again.
A spokesman for B&M said: “B&M policies and procedures are designed to support high standards of store compliance.
“We take reports of this nature very seriously and have resolved this issue with the store by ensuring the product has been removed from the shelves and reminding staff of the correct processes to prevent this from happening again.
“We sincerely apologise to the customer for this oversight and are in contact with them to address their concerns and provide reassurance that this was an isolated incident.”
How to save money at B&M
Shoppers have saved hundreds of pounds a year by using B&M's scanner app.
The scanner lets you see if an item’s price is cheaper than advertised on the shop floor label.
Products that are typically discounted are seasonal items and old stock that B&M is trying to shift.
The app is free to download off the B&M Stores mobile app via Google Play or the Apple App Store.
According to one ex-B&M manager, you’ll want to visit your local branch at 10am on a Wednesday too.
Here’s how you can join the B&M bargain hunt:
- Download the B&M app for free on any smartphone with an App Store or Google Play.
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- Use the camera to hover over the barcode of the product you wish to check.
- If the price comes up as lower, take it to the cash desk and it will automatically scan at the lower price.
- You don’t need to sign up to the B&M app to use the barcode scanner.