Shopper stung by scorpion in supermarket

A woman was stung by a scorpion when she went to pick up a bunch of bananas at her local supermarket.

A woman was stung by a scorpion when she went to pick up a bunch of bananas at her local supermarket.

Sally Smith was shopping with her grandson, mother and daughter at Gateway in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, when she thought a wasp had stung her finger.

After Mrs Smith bent down to pick up the bananas, her daughter saw a 6in scorpion on her chest and flicked it off.

The 45-year-old grandmother, of Holme Crescent, Biggleswade, was taken to Bedford Hospital, where doctors had to ring specialists at Guy's Hospital in London for advice on treatment. She did not have to be kept in overnight.

Mrs Smith said: "I was extremely distraught about the whole incident. I had a surge of pain in my finger and arm and felt violently sick.

"The fact is I should never have been subjected to that kind of incident in the first place. I could've died if the scorpion had been poisonous."

A spokesman for Somerfield, which has taken over Gateway, said tests were being carried out by the company's own trading standards officers to find out what type of scorpion the creature was and where it had come from.

The spokesman said: "We know it was not a highly poisonous scorpion because Mrs Smith was released from hospital the same day.

"We have been in touch with her to make sure she is well and we are pleased the scorpion was not more dangerous than it was.

"We cannot say any more until we receive the results from our own tests."