A MOTHER from Hatfield wasn’t lovin’ it during a visit to her local McDonald’s drive-thru.

IT is a brand beloved by children all over the world, instantly recognisable by its trademark golden arches.

But McDonald’s restaurant has this week lost one loyal customer for good.

Penny Knight, from Deerswood Avenue, Hatfield, told the WHT how she was left feeling “insulted” by the food-chain after she claimed to have found a bag of used tissues in her daughter’s Happy Meal.

Miss Knight said she had just left the McDonald’s drive-thru at the Galleria in Hatfield on Saturday last week with her two daughters, Lauren, nine, and 11-year-old Ellie, when the grim discovery was made.

Having bought two Chicken McNugget Happy Meals for her children, Miss Knight said Lauren pulled out a bag of tissues from her meal box.

“I thought nothing of it before I realised what it was,” Miss Knight said.

“It wasn’t until Lauren spilled her drink and I picked up the tissues to clean it up, that I realised they had already been used.”

“It turned my stomach.”

Miss Knight phoned the company’s UK headquarters in Finchley, North London, to complain.

“What really annoyed me was the way it went with head office,” she said.

“They were so laid back about it, it was unbelievable. I felt insulted.”

A spokesman for McDonald’s apologised for the way Miss Knight had been treated by customer services, and said the company had offered her �30 worth of gift vouchers as a goodwill gesture.

But he denied the tissues had been placed inside the meal in the first place.

“We want to provide excellent customer service and we are sorry if this customer feels we did not handle her complaint appropriately,” he said.

“Following a thorough investigation, we have found no evidence that a foreign object was introduced to this Happy Meal box before it was served.”

But Miss Knight said: “My girls will never eat in that restaurant again. I can’t see them asking for another Happy Meal.”