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A family has described their horror at discovering a rather unusual substitution in their online shopping delivery.
For rather than getting kidney beans in place of cannellini beans, the Richardsons, who live in Ongar in Essex, opened their groceries at around 1.30pm on Friday to find a rat had made its way in there, instead.
Daughter Beckie, 19, who saw the foot-long rodent nestled between the Smarties and eggs, was so affected by the encounter that she fainted and started having a panic attack.
Her mum Sue Richardson, 52, who ordered the delivery from the Gallows Corner branch in Romford, told the Brentwood Gazette : "My daughter and I started unloading the shopping, one crate at a time and, as I took one off, I heard a scream and a thud.
"As Beckie lifted one of them up I heard an almighty crash and she was on the floor.
"I looked in the crate and this rat was just there looking up at us sitting next to the Smarties, eggs and tins."
Mrs Richardson said Beckie had suffered from panic attacks in the past, but had had therapy - and complained that the shocking incident had "undone all the work".
"She hasn't had one for a long time, but she has been seeing psychiatrists and psychologists," she told the newspaper.
Mrs Richardson said that she trapped the rat using another crate and called Tesco - who said it was "highly unlikely" it came from the store.
But, she added: "There are definitely no rats around here because everyone in this street has dogs or cats and we would have noticed something.
"I hate rats, but I had to stay calm myself because of how Beckie was."
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Mrs Richardson, who has since changed her weekly shop to Sainsbury's, said that the Tesco delivery driver had taken the rat away. But she threw all her shopping away anyway, in case it was contaminated.
A spokesman for Tesco said: "We take the cleanliness of our stores and delivery vehicles extremely seriously so were concerned to hear of the issue at our Romford Gallows Corner store.
"Although we're confident this is an isolated incident, we've taken immediate action including working with a pest control company and jet washing the area where we store our online deliveries.
"We have visited and apologised to Mrs Richardson, delivered a replacement tray of groceries and offered her some flowers as a gesture of goodwill."
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