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Hotel 'refuses toothpick to customer'

You may find it strange, but a hotel in Britain has refused one of its customers a toothpick -- on health and safety grounds.

Updated on: Jan 22, 2010, 17:47:55 IST
PTI | By , London
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You may find it strange, but a hotel in Britain has refused one of its customers a toothpick -- on health and safety grounds.

HT Image
HT Image

"The waiter apologised but said he was not allowed to give me a toothpick for health and safety reasons. I asked if he was joking, but he said it wasn't April 1 and that there weren't any in the hotel," the 'Daily Express' quoted 63-year -old diner John Freeman from Cheshire as saying.

The former deputy headteacher then complained to the manager after his 70-pound-a-head meal at the Macdonald Portal Golf and Spa Hotel in Tarporley, Cheshire, to celebrate New Year's Eve.

"She took the point and agreed the situation was ludicrous at best, but assured me there had been a directive from head office not to provide toothpicks because they are potentially dangerous.

"It's such nonsense. It is the sort of thing which is making this country unliveable. Health and safety and political correctness are driving this country into a corner. It just seems ridiculous that a hotel like this would behave in such a way," he said.

However, local dentist Ray McNamara said: "This doesn't surprise me in this health and safety age. I suppose they are worried about people flicking their crowns out or injuring themselves and then blaming the hotel."

No one at the hotel was available to comment on the matter, the newspaper said.