A FISH and chip shop faced a surprise inspection by environmental health officers after accusations a poorly-cooked pie had caused a man to become 'violently ill'.

David Randle stopped at Rose Hill Fish and Chips, also known as Captain Cod Chippy, earlier this month after being diverted from the A34 due to a fuel spillage.

He ordered a steak and onion pie with chips then continued on to a work event in Brockenhurst, Hampshire.

The 48-year-old, who is from Wolverhampton, said: “At 9.45pm I had to suddenly leave my colleagues as I felt ill, I returned to my room and began to be violently ill."

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He then spent the next three days too sick to leave his hotel room, missing an annual work party and costing his employer 'thousands' by not being able to lead a training tour in Europe.

Mr Randle reported the suspected food poisoning to Oxford City Council, who sent an environmental health officer to investigate his claims. Their report found the core temperature of a steak and onion pie from the Rose Hill takeaway was 60.3C despite the safe temperature being above 65C. It added pies delivered that morning were stored in a fridge when label instructions said they must be cooked from frozen.

The chip shop, which has a one-star food hygiene rating and has not been above two stars since December 2016, has previously been criticised by inspectors for the way Pukka Pies were cooked though this was under a previous owner.

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Mr Randle called on the council to do more, saying: “I really cannot understand why Oxford City Council tolerate such low standards.”

Ian Wright, head of regulatory services and community safety, said: “There was no evidence of any contraventions that warranted emergency action such as closure of the business. We will be revisiting to check whether these requirements have been actioned.” He added the authority in such cases advised people to visit a GP so their illness could be properly diagnosed, saying: "Unfortunately, in this case, we don’t have this information.”

He said it was ‘not necessarily’ the last place a person ate that caused their illness, with the most common type of food poisoning in the UK usually making people ill two-five days after being ingested. He added the authority had a 'very robust stance' on enforcement pointing to Food Standards Agency statistics which show in 2017/18 the council served more hygiene improvement notices than any other district council in England and Wales and is in the top 10 for the number of food businesses closed following an inspection.

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The takeaway was contacted but did not respond.