A WOMAN from Honley got a nasty shock when she tucked into her lunch.

Jill Stansfield had bought a salad from Tesco, on Viaduct Street, to eat at work.

But when she opened the box, looking forward to tucking into her lunch, she was horrified to find a live grasshopper hiding inside the salad.

Jill said: “I was literally just about to tuck into my lunch and eat it when I noticed the grasshopper. It was about an inch and a half long. I was absolutely mortified, I couldn’t believe my own eyes.

“I even had to show my work colleagues to double check I was seeing what I thought I was. Their reaction was the same as mine – utterly disgusted.”

Jill, who works for Kirklees Council, immediately rang the Huddersfield store to inform them of the incident, and although they have offered her a full refund on the salad, Jill feels she should be compensated for her trauma.

But managers at the store have told her she needs to hand the product over for them to even consider doing anything about it.

Jill added: “I feel I have been treated appallingly and I am now very reluctant to hand it over as I have no guarantee they are going to do anything about it and I have lost all evidence then. The incident has really upset me and I would like Tesco to acknowledge my upset in the way of compensation. I understand Tesco must follow a certain procedure, but I do believe this procedure treats customers really shoddily.”

Jill has even considered taking the matter up with the small claims court.

A spokesperson for Tesco, said: “This is an extremely unusual thing to have happened and we are very sorry for any inconvenience caused to Ms Stansfield. We would like to ask her to bring the product back to us for a full investigation and from there we can decide what the best appropriate course of action to take would be.

“We do have very strict processes in place to ensure the highest standard of food safety.”