One Waitrose customer received far more than they bargained for when they had a bunch of bananas delivered to their door.
The father of two unpacked the groceries from his online order, to find a spider with a 15cm leg span hanging onto the side of the fruit.
Even though that is more than enough to make most people squirm, the arachnid turned out to be a Brazilian wandering spider, one of the most venomous, and aggressive, in the world.
Dropping the fruit in an understandable panic, the father, Tim, who hasn’t given his last name, inadvertently trapped the spider’s leg as the bunch landed in the fruit bowl. He used the opportunity to take a picture and learn more about it.
When he identified the spider and saw how dangerous it was, they evacuated the house and called first the RSPCA, who said they could not deal with such a dangerous animal and advised contacting the police. The police said the same thing and advised getting in a specialist.
Tim and his wife, Lisa, also contacted Waitrose, who sent out pest expert Steve Trippett, who was reported to describe the Brazilian wandering spider as ‘hardcore’.
Having made a further horrifying discovery, that the spider had dropped a sack of eggs and pulled its own leg off to escape, the family again evacuated the house, until Trippett arrived.
He found the eight legged menace at the bottom of the fruit bowl, and managed to manoeuvre it into a plastic box. True to form, the Guinness World Record holder for being the most venomous spider, the pest reared up to attack, rather than run away.
However, once it was secured in the plastic box (which was then secured in two other boxes), Trippett killed off the eggs by freezing them.
It is thought the spider has been taken to a research centre abroad.
The family spent a night away at a friends’, understandably not wanting to stay in their house. Waitrose have apologised and given the family £150 worth of shopping vouchers, and paid for a family day out as compensation. “The safety of our customers is our absolute priority. We did everything we could to look after our customer during what was a distressing incident and we’ve apologised personally,” a spokesperson for the premium supermarket said.
