A Subway employee in England has narrowly avoided a jail sentence after footage of him stuffing lettuce up his nose was posted online.
Employee Richard Benjamin Shannon was arrested after an angry female customer recognised the 22-year-old in the YouTube clip, which also shows Shannon spitting salad leaves into a tray used to serve patrons.
The irate woman, who had recently eaten at the Subway sandwich bar in the West Midlands town of Brownhills, threw a chair at the employee before reporting him to police.
Shannon told Walsall Magistrates' Court that he wedged the lettuce leaves up his nostrils as a prank and made sure they were discarded and not served to customers.
But the magistrate said it was enough that the mobile-phone footage, filmed early last year, caused anxiety and distress to the sandwich bar's customers.
"Despite your previous good character, your actions merit a custodial sentence," the Telegraph reported the magistrate as saying.
"However, due to … the fact you have shown remorse for your actions, we are imposing a community order."
Shannon was ordered to serve 300 hours of community service after pleading guilty to a charge of contaminating or interfering with goods with intent to cause economic loss, alarm or injury.
He was facing up to six months in jail.
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