A father had to save his daughter’s life after she choked on a stone in a packet of frozen vegetables from Asda.

Martin Wessell, from West Ewell, sprang into action when his 13-year-old daughter Gemma started choking while eating the vegetables in July.

He slapped her on the back to remove the offending item, only to be startled to see a stone had come out of his daughter’s mouth.

The minibus driver contacted Asda in Burgh Heath, where he bought the vegetable packet, and gave them the stone, which was about half an inch across.

He was informed it would take 28 days to find out from the suppliers how the stone got into the packet, but he has still not heard anything.

The 35-year-old said: “I had to give them the stone to be analysed. I wanted to take it to Trading Standards.

“I was scared when my daughter started choking.

“I had to whack her hard on the back.

“I was so shocked when [the stone] came out.

“I want some sort of compensation for the traumatic experience we went through.”

Mr Wessell said he cooked the vegetables thoroughly and it could not have been anything other than the stone which caused the choking.

A spokeswoman for Asda said: “We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to Mr Wessell and his family and to assure him we have been investigating this incident.

“As soon as we heard from Mr Wessell we contacted the supplier and instructed them to carry out a full investigation.

“All staff at the factory have also been re-briefed on heath and safety.”

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