A WOMAN was sickened after spotting a sandwich shop worker who appeared to have his hand down the back of his trousers.

She claims to have taken the photograph at the Subway shop in Union Street, Accrington.

The 30-year-old, from the town, who did not wish to be named, was waiting with her partner at the shop on Monday morning, when she saw the ‘disgusting’ sight.

She said: “I did not eat but was waiting with my partner who was having some food.

“I just looked around and saw it and I watched for a minute then decided to take a photograph and posted it on Snapchat and Facebook.

“It is absolutely disgusting and I won’t be going into that Subway again. I said to my partner, 'have you seen that? You have just eaten and he is doing that.'

“It is just wrong on so many levels.

The Accrington store got a hygiene rating of five in its most-recent inspection.

The mum-of-three said the incident took place at around 9.20am.

She added: “It makes me sick. Some people are saying that they put gloves on before serving food but that is not the point, they have to get the gloves first with their hands.

“It is just revolting to think that we could be eating in there.

“There are dangers of cross-contamination and you should not be doing that there.”

A spokesman for Subway said: “We have high expectations of all franchise owners and their staff and require all stores to operate to strict hygiene standards.

"We have contacted the relevant franchise owner who is addressing this further with his staff.”

Hyndburn councillor Paul Cox, who is in charge of environmental heath, said: “I would urge the person who took the photograph to get in touch with the council’s food safety team and environmental health and they will investigate the incident.”

The Accrington picture comes after the sandwich giant confirmed it was investigating after a picture emerged on social media appearing to show a worker with his hands inside his trousers while behind the counter at a branch in Carlisle.

The picture emerged on December 16, with the sandwich giants made aware of it a day later after someone contacted the Subway Twitter account.

It appears to show the worker looking at his mobile phone with his left hand while his right hand is inside his trousers.