That takes the biscuit! Row over cinema’s snack tray

For Ian and Caroline McKay, their weekly trip to watch a film wouldn’t be complete without a sweet treat from the cinema’s biscuit tray.

But the pensioners have been left with a sour taste after cinema bosses decided the tray of loose biscuits was a ‘health hazard’.

Now, each one has to be individually wrapped in plastic – to the dismay of the couple, who called it ‘health and safety gone mad’. retired teacher Mr McKay, 70, condemned the decision as ‘ a ridiculous interference’, saying: ‘ The inference was [the biscuits] could cause germs.’

Until now, over-55s attending the weekly ‘Silver Cinema’ film screening at the odeon in Basingstoke, Hampshire, paid £3 for a ticket that entitled them to enjoy tea or coffee and pick up a couple of biscuits from a tray before watching a film. But when Mr McKay and his wife, 65, made their regular visit, they spotted each of the biscuits on offer was now wrapped in plastic.

Mr McKay, from Basingstoke, said he had been told loose biscuits were a ‘health hazard’, adding: ‘The lady behind the counter told me there would be no more unwrapped loose biscuits. She said to me they now all had to be individually wrapped.

‘But if I want to take the risk of eating them that is up to me … Let people lead their own lives. It is so stupid. We are trying to stop global plastic pollution so that makes it worse.’

He added: ‘If people are happy taking biscuits off a tray then that is their choice and the sooner these health and safety people leave us to make our own choices the better.’

An odeon spokesman: ‘our team are trialling different biscuits as part of our Silver Cinema offering and we’re always grateful to our guests for their feedback.’