Angry 'customer' threw takeaway inside Northampton pharmacy causing thousands of pounds worth of contamination

A Northampton town centre pharmacy has been left with thousands of pounds worth of contaminated medication after a man threw takeaway in the store.

Regent Pharmacy, in Regent Square, had a visit from a man last night (April 24) just before it was due to close at 11pm.

According to the owner, Akshay Patel, the customer was requesting help, but became verbally abusive when staff told him they could not help.

Akshay said: “We had a customer come in last night and he wanted something.

“He was on the phone to 111 and they could not help him. He was shouting and screaming at 111.

“We couldn’t help him either and he got annoyed at us.”

The man then threw the takeaway he was eating, which went over the carpet and a lot of the pharmacy’s stock.

Akshay claims that as the man left he shouted ‘enjoy your cleaning’.

The pharmacy owner added: “A few thousands pounds worth of stock has been contaminated.

“It was tomato sauce and gravy and sticky things that got on the boxes, so we can’t clean it properly.

“I would not be happy to give that to my customers.”

Akshay, his wife and members of staff have cleaned as much as they can and the pharmacy remains open as they do not want other people to be affected.

But the incident has left them feeling stressed, especially in the current situation when they are providing vital help.

“The pharmacy is extremely busy without this extra worry and work that has been created," Akshay added.

“We’re trying to help people so when this happens it becomes too much pressure and it makes our lives so difficult.

“We were cleaning when we should have been helping people.”

Northamptonshire Police were called after the incident took place.

A spokeswoman for the force said: “This happened at 10.50pm last night when a man entered the pharmacy and threw takeaway food at the display cabinet, damaging some of the medication.”

No arrests have been made yet.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information is asked to call police on 101.

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