A VEGETARIAN claims she had a bucket of coins thrown at her after asking a cafe to remove chicken from her halloumi sandwich.

Shana Stuart, 19, from Hove went into Fine Eat in Western Road and asked for her cheese sandwich not to be cooked with the meat.

But when she found there was chicken in her sandwich and returned to the cafe, she claims she was abused by cafe staff.

Miss Stuart admits she tossed the meat-tainted sandwich back to staff - but says in return a tips bucket full of coins was thrown at her, striking her at the back of the head and neck.

She said: “I returned to the shop and asked politely to have a new sandwich made.

“One of the staff called over the woman who made it, removed the chicken from the original sandwich and returned it to me.

“Of course I said that is not acceptable as I specifically told her I was a vegetarian and so asked if I could have a new one.

“The maker of the sandwich started getting rude and abusive towards me, and said she would not apologise to me and complained that it was apparently my fault.

“I asked to speak to the manager but she said she was the manager. I told her the way she runs her shop and speaks to her customers was unacceptable.”

The customer was offered half a sandwich but Miss Stuart said not to bother and tossed it back towards staff.

As she was leaving the shop, a bucket full of coins was thrown at her.

Miss Stuart added: “I knew I would’ve gone insane if I’d have gone back in, so I just got out of there.

“It was just so ridiculous.”

The woman who cooked the sandwich at the cafe told The Argus chicken had made its way into the sandwich.

She explained: “A woman asked for a halloumi sandwich and I just cooked it and she wanted to complain.

“After some discussion about the ordered sandwich we gave her another part of the sandwich.

“After some discussion we got to the end of it. She got half of her sandwich back.”

A woman who said she was the manager added: “We are sad that this has happened, we don’t stand for it at all.

“We believe in people and we want our customers to be happy and that’s all that matters.”

Sussex Police said it was investigating the incident.

A spokesman said: “It is alleged that a sandwich was thrown at a member of staff, and then a tips container was thrown at the complainant. No one was hurt.”