A mother who has a severe dairy allergy collapsed in front of her daughters after eating a vegan Pret wrap and later died, an inquest has heard.
Celia Marsh, 42, a dental nurse from Melksham, Wiltshire, died on December 27 2017 after eating a super-veg rainbow flatbread from the sandwich chain’s store in Bath, Somerset.
The wrap had contained yogurt which was supposed to be vegan but was later found to have traces of dairy protein in it.
The mother-of-five suffered from a severe dairy allergy and Avon Coroner’s Court was told she “religiously avoided” all dairy products following a near-fatal allergic reaction months earlier.
Her husband has told an inquest of the harrowing moment she collapsed in the street, unable to breathe, and a paramedic told the hearing how shoppers continued to step over her as she received treatment.
The chief executive of Pret, Pano Christou, was present at Tuesday’s hearing.
Mrs Marsh had been on a post-Christmas shopping trip with her husband and three of her daughters when she went into Pret to buy something to eat.
In his statement, which was read to the hearing by the coroner’s officer, Andy Marsh said his wife had begun to feel “a bit funny” after eating the wrap, while they were in clothing store Gap, and they decided to leave the shop.
He said: “We started walking down the narrow side street by the Gap store and Celia had her asthma inhaler out.
“She used it a couple of times and I asked her if she was OK.
“She said she was struggling to breathe but it may be because of the cold air.
“We then moved to a small side street on the left and I pulled her to one side.”
He said Mrs Marsh had initially thought she was “being silly” because the sandwich had been labelled “vegan”.
“She had her Epipen in her hand and I said to her that if she thought there was any chance she was having a reaction that she should just do it and use the pen as it doesn’t matter,” he said.
“She then said to me ‘You need to phone an ambulance’,” he added.
Mr Marsh said he phoned 999 by which time his wife had collapsed and was being tended to by an off-duty GP who had offered to help.
“They took Celia away in an ambulance but I had my children with me so could not go in the ambulance with her to the hospital,” Mr Marsh said.
“I was really in shock so it took a short time before I was able to drive up to the hospital in my car.
“When we arrived at the hospital we were taken into a side room and we were told that Celia had been pronounced dead at 4pm.”
A civil servant who came to Mrs Marsh’s aid said a crowd had formed in the busy street around her as she lay on the ground.
He described the scene as “disturbing” and said he saw Mr Marsh attempting to comfort his young daughter.
A number of people were said to have taken off their coats to place over Mrs Marsh to keep her warm.
However one of the paramedics who attended said in his statement that some shoppers continued to step over Mrs Marsh as she was being treated.
Mr Marsh and his daughters could be seen weeping during the hearing as the statements were read out.
