When it comes to eating out, obviously we expect a good level of hygiene – particularly from chains we all know and love.
In fact, it’s great when you’re queueing up at Subway to get your Meatball Marinara on Hearty Italian bread, and you see the staff popping on their plastic gloves to put your sub together in the most hygienic way.
So you can imagine one woman’s horror when she wandered in expecting the usual service, only to discover a worker stood with his hands down his pants behind the counter.
The woman, who was visiting a branch in Accrington, Lancashire, branded it ‘absolutely disgusting’ and has vowed never to visit the store again.
In a photograph taken in the store, a man appears to have his hand down the back of his trousers, which are visibly part of the Subway uniform.
When the picture first emerged online, it was shared with the caption: ‘Glad I don’t eat at Accy Subway. Worker stood scratching his arse!’
The woman who took the picture didn’t want to be named, however she did tell the Lancashire Telegraph:
I did not eat but was waiting with my partner who was having some food.
I just looked around and saw it and I watched for a minute then decided to take a photograph and posted it on Snapchat and Facebook.
It is absolutely disgusting and I won’t be going into that Subway again. I said to my partner, ‘Have you seen that? You have just eaten and he is doing that.’ It is just wrong on so many levels.
This particular branch of the chain has a five-star hygiene rating, however the anonymous mum-of-three said she was left feeling ‘sick’ and concerned of the dangers of cross-contamination.
The 30-year-old added:
It makes me sick. Some people are saying that they put gloves on before serving food but that is not the point, they have to get the gloves first with their hands.
It is just revolting to think that we could be eating in there.
There are dangers of cross-contamination and you should not be doing that there.
As per the publication, a spokesperson for Subway said:
We have high expectations of all franchise owners and their staff and require all stores to operate to strict hygiene standards.
We have contacted the relevant franchise owner who is addressing this further with his staff.
Hyndburn Councillor Paul Cox has urged the woman to take the photograph to be investigated by the local council’s food safety team.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.