A mother has claimed she and a friend were shouted out of a Costa Coffee for having a Starbucks cup inside the shop.

Heena Desai and another mum were at the Rickmansworth High Street branch when they were reportedly confronted by a staff member.

She claimed that the pair, who were with their three young children, were left "terrified" after being spoken to "threateningly" on Saturday, August 12, at around 11:30am.

A Costa spokesperson said it was aware of the incident and is investigating.

She said: "He became rude towards both of us and started to get angry when we questioned him about the issue he had. 

"He started swearing at me and my friend in front of the children and the rest of the cafe, I am just so shocked that it happened. He didn't calm down even when I said I didn't understand the problem."

When they attempted to order, the employee allegedly stated it was "unacceptable" to walk in with a Starbucks cup, before claiming "you wouldn't walk into a pub with your own alcohol" and refusing to serve them. 

The pair then started to leave, which is when she claims the staff member started to get more aggressive and threatening.

Miss Desai, a mother-of-one from Watford, said she only had the cup because her baby spilt water on the way to meeting her friend, so she went into Starbucks to refill it. 

She has since reported the incident to the police and Costa.

“It was absolutely terrifying," Miss Desai added. "At one point I thought the man was going to jump over the counter and attack us, my first thought was to protect my baby.

“It made me really angry that he would talk to a member of the public like this, over a Starbucks coffee cup.”

She continued: "What happened is not ok at all. This behaviour is not something which should be tolerated and I hope that Costa do something about it."

A Costa spokesperson said: “We are aware of the incident that took place at one of our franchise partner stores. We are speaking with the partner to understand what happened and remain in contact with the customer whilst we continue to investigate.”