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McDonald's serves a cucumber to 'deathly allergic' girl
Ian Mathey and his daughter Sky had told the fast-food restaurant in Abingdon, where they live, for no cucumber on the crispy chicken wrap ordered at the drive-through.
However, despite expressing the allergy twice, when the 20-year-old bit into the wrap she was concerned to find the fruit inside.
Now, Mr Mathey, is seeking compensation from the American chain after it offered him a ‘free burger’ as an apology.
“They are valuing my daughter’s life at a free burger,” he said. “It makes my blood boil. I wasn’t after compensation I just wanted a sincere apology.”
The incident happened in July this year after Miss Mathey, who was back from studying biochemistry at Southampton University, had finished her shift at The Brewery Tap.
“She finished work about 11pm,” said Mr Mathey. “She asked if we could go to McDonalds so I drove up to the window and asked for a crispy chicken wrap and said, ‘Make sure there’s no cucumber as she is deathly allergic’ and I checked the screen and it said, ‘No cucumber’.
“I checked again when I got to the next window to pay and he reassured me there would be none."
“But driving home my daughter bit into the wrap and said, ‘Oh s***’ and I said, ‘You’re kidding? Do you have an EpiPen?’
“She had EpiPens at home so I drove her back to make sure she was okay. It involved us waking up every 30 minutes to make sure she was okay and had an EpiPen at the ready as anaphylaxis can come on very quickly.
“She’s an adult but at the end of the day she’s still our daughter.”
“She’s allergic to cucumbers, apples, peaches, it’s to do with a certain enzyme in the skin. If it’s cooked it’s okay but if it’s raw it can take her life."
Mr Mathey phoned the store the following day and emailed the head office before being offered a free burger.
He said: “I was getting irate at this point as no one had even asked if my daughter was okay.
“Eventually I said I was going to get Environmental Health Officer’s (EHO) and the trading standard involved because what made me lose my rag was them offering me a free burger.
“I’m just really frustrated with how McDonalds have dealt with it.”
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In a report by EHO, it was discovered that a wrap from an earlier cancelled order was provided rather than the one without cucumbers.
It said: “McDonalds have completed their own internal investigation and they have surmised that the cause of the wrong product being given was down to human error.”
A spokesperson for McDonalds said: "We’d like to apologise to this customer for the mistake made in July this year. We take allergens extremely seriously at McDonald’s and we are disappointed that on this occasion we have fallen short of the high standards that we set ourselves.
"Following an investigation, the restaurant confirmed this was a case of human error and all staff were reminded of the importance of order accuracy and of the correct procedures when serving a customer with specific requirements.
"We understand the customer liaised with our Customer Services Team at the time of the incident who provided further assistance.”