A Watford dad who found a suspected false widow spider in a punnet of grapes he bought from Tesco has slated the supermarket for not caring that he or his five-year-old daughter could have been seriously hurt.

Adam Damary, 37, said the grapes were sitting on his table for four days before the spider jumped out at his daughter Jasmine.

The St Albans Road resident said: "I was horrified. I read about a man who had been bitten by a false widow and lost his leg.

"Tesco weren’t very bothered about it.

"My daughter is five years old. It just jumped out at her.

"I caught the spider in a pot and rang head office. They told me to take it straight back to the store.

"I took the grapes back, the receipt and the spider and they gave me a new pack of grapes.

"But I want an explanation of how this could have happened."

The false widow spider, Steatoda nobilis, is often cited as Britain's most venomous spider and is on the rise in the UK.

Symptoms of its bite include a range from feelings of numbness, severe swelling and discomfort, to various levels of burning or chest pains. The severity of the symptoms depends on the amount of venom that was injected.

Mr Damary, a handyman, bought the grapes from Tesco in St Albans Road.

He said he was terrified his daughter could have put her hand in the packet and been bitten.

He took the grapes and spider back to the store on Saturday, September 20.

After filling out a complaint form, Mr Damary says he is still waiting for a response from the supermarket giant.

He said: "It’s a joke. I was told they would be sending the spider to head office the same day. Now it’s been nearly two weeks and it seems they still haven’t received it."

Tesco said they will be conducting a full investigation into the how the spider got into Mr Damary’s grapes.

Annie Good, spokeswoman for the supermarket chain, said: "We set ourselves very high standards for the safety and quality of our products. We will be conducting a full investigation and will update Mr Damary accordingly."