A MOTHER has criticised a fast- food restaurant after she found a piece of wood in her son's chips.

Elaine Ward and her sons, Calvin, two, and Craig, 13, were enjoying a meal at Burger King in Durham City's North Road when Craig spotted something unusual in his younger brother's fries.

Ms Ward, of Philip Avenue, Bowburn, said: "At first I thought it was just an overcooked fry, but when I had a closer look I could see it was a splinter of wood.

"It was about two-and-a-half inches long and was covered in grease, so it had obviously been in the fryer.

"We were lucky Craig spotted it, or Calvin could have swallowed it and he could have choked on it or anything. It was absolutely horrifying."

She complained to staff who promised to send the wood to head office for analysis.

Ms Ward said: "They could not have been nicer about it, but that's not the point.

"We're regular customers in Burger King, but we have not been back since, and depending on what they do about it, we won't be going back."

A spokesman for Burger King said: "Burger King takes reports of such incidents extremely seriously, and we have launched a thorough investigation.

"We are grateful to the customer for assisting us in this investigation by providing the object to us for analysis.

"However, until the investigation is concluded, we are not able to speculate as to whether it originated in the restaurant.