England: Man buys broccoli in which a snake was hiding

England
Shock for 63-year-olds: snake hides in supermarket broccoli

Ironically, a man who says he suffers from a snake phobia bought a broccoli in which a snake was hiding for reasons unknown. A real trauma for the Brit.

When you buy vegetables in the supermarket, you usually think you are putting something purely vegetarian in the shopping cart. And that’s usually how it should be, but in the case of a Brit buying a broccoli from an Aldi store in Stourbridge, west England, it was different: Neville Linton got quite a shock when he took a closer look at his at home shopping threw.

When he namely the Holding broccoli in his hands, he noticed something unusual: Between the green florets and stalks sat a – snake! After the initial shock, the 63-year-old still thought it was a very large worm, he reports. But a second look taught him otherwise: It was definitely a snake. A real shock moment for the man who says he suffers from a snake phobia.

Aldi broccoli contains animal “inhabitant”

Linton told the Daily Mail: “It was pretty scary. I’m not good with snakes. Luckily I didn’t just leave the broccoli in the kitchen or the snake would have been free to roam the house!” The 63-year-old called his sister and asked for help because he couldn’t help himself because of his phobia. She immediately rushed to help and put the broccoli head and its unusual “inhabitant” in a large tub.

They then took her and Linton back to the Aldi supermarket where the broccoli had been bought. “At first they thought I was joking. But then the animal started to move. The guy in the shop was also quite scared,” reports the Briton. In order to find a solution to the situation that satisfies everyone, the Aldi supermarket contacted Dudley Zoo, about ten kilometers away. A snake expert came and examined the animal – it was a ladder snake. Although these are not poisonous, their bites can be quite painful.

Snake now resides at the nearby zoo

The snake is now living at the zoo, but Neville Linton isn’t feeling completely relaxed just yet. Besides him, his mother-in-law, who needs care, and his son, who has a disability, also live in his house. He was very scared for both of them after he discovered the snake, and since then he has had to think about what would have happened if it had disappeared into the house unnoticed and possibly injured someone.

Aldi has since apologized to him and also offered financial compensation, but Linton was not satisfied. He refused her. “That’s just not good enough – the consequences for us if the snake got inside the house are enormous.”

Sources:RTL, “Daily Mail”