Family recoil in horror as snake-like creature filmed crawling in bag of Sainsbury's potatoes

A family were left gobsmacked after finding a "snake-like" creature in a bag of Sainsbury's potatoes. The family were on holiday when they made the discovery. They filmed it slithering over the potatoes while still inside the packaging. While the creatures has many similarities to a snake, it is actually understood to have been a slow worm, which is native to the UK.

Sainsbury's have apologised for the family's "rare experience". A member of the family, who asked not to be named, said they received an online order to the remote property they were staying. They said: "The delivery driver was very helpful as the steps to access the house were severe and needed a very good level of fitness. Many trays of shopping and £370 later, we had our food for the next few days. On Sunday, we’d planned to make a roast dinner. We started preparing early in the morning as we’d planned a day out. We took the bag of potatoes out of the cupboard ready to prepare our roasters."

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She said they could see "something in the bag" but assumed it was a thick potato root. She added: "Then to our absolute horror we saw it move. It was obvious initially it was large but only on closer inspection did we realise it was snake-like. Given the fear of snakes we have, you can imagine the screams. Once we calmed down and showed other family members we took a closer look. There it was, slithering around all of our potatoes whilst we looked on in horror. We had no idea what to do next."

She told North Wales Live other members of the Flintshire family, who were on holiday in Cornwall when it happened, "braved" getting the creature out of the bag and setting it free. A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We have been in touch with [the customer] to apologise for this rare experience and offer a gesture of goodwill. We have processes in place to prevent this from happening and are investigating this case with our supplier.”

According to The Wildlife Trusts, a slow worm is "a legless lizard". They said: "Its identity is given away by its abilities to shed its tail and blink with its eyelids. Slow worms can be found in heathland, tussocky grassland, woodland edges and rides where they can find invertebrates to eat and a sunny patch in which to sunbathe. They are often found in mature gardens and allotments, where they like hunting around the compost heap."