Published: 16 February, 2012
by JOHN GULLIVER

A BIG MAC visit didn’t quite work out how a reader of this column thought it would.

He had ordered a Spicy Veggie wrap from McDonald’s in Camden High Street but when he bit into it he found a piece of meat in his mouth.

A Hindu for whom meat is taboo, all he could do was spit it out.

Twice he went back to McDonald’s and each time, believe it or not, he found he was served with a meat wrap sailing under the name of a “veggie”.

Naturally he complained to the manager, who blamed a faulty machine.

How many hundreds of so-called “veggie” wraps were sold in those few days, no one knows.

Possibly a great many.

An apology came back on January 4 from Aida Shafiq, Senior Customer Services Administrator, from McDonald’s head office in East Finchley.

“Given that you do not eat meat I can of course appreciate how distressing this must have been for you, and I offer my sincere apologies for this error,” she wrote.

She assured him that the “management team at Camden” would prevent a “recurrence of this type of problem”.

Enclosing £20 worth of vouchers as a form of compensation she hoped “that in time” he would return to McDonald’s.

To check out the restaurant I ordered a veggie wrap – not my usual fare – and received exactly that, though I didn’t find it particularly palatable. But then, I don’t frequent the fast-food chain.

I suppose we are left with a health warning we should all watch. When you order veggie specials take a good look before you take a bite!