A furious mother who ordered a Domino’s pizza for her family opened the boxes to find half of their food already eaten before it had even arrived.

Karen Carman ordered a £20 pizza, garlic bread and dips from the takeaway outlet in Blackpool, Lancashire after celebrating a bingo win.

But when the food was delivered they were disgusted to find the box covered in greasy fingerprints - and someone had tucked into half of their garlic bread and finished the dip.

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Karen Carman's Domino's order of garlic bread and dip (pictured) which arrived half-eaten by staff members

Mrs Carman phoned the store in Devonshire Road to complain and was told the branch had a ‘hot holding rack’ to store food, which staff are allowed to eat from.

It was explained that her order had been delivered by mistake after a member of staff had begun eating half the food and forgotten about it.

She said: ‘We were about to open the boxes, however, there was a greasy residue over the leaflet and some of the boxes.

‘On opening the box containing the garlic bread we were absolutely horrified to find that this had been opened and half eaten.

‘Along with it was an empty container of the garlic dip, the lid of which was stuck to the top lid of the box and empty plastic container was next to the half-eaten garlic bread.

‘It was obvious that it was someone’s half-eaten meal and we were all sickened and disgusted.

‘We certainly didn’t want to eat anything else after that.

Karen Carman ordered the takeaway to celebrate a bingo win but was left disgusted when it arrived. She called the branch to complain and was told that it had been delivered by mistake after staff had started eating it

‘The thought that we had been delivered something half-eaten and covered in dirty grease made us all feel ill.’

The mother asked the store’s manager to investigate, before reporting the incident to Blackpool council’s environmental health department.

She said: ‘She [the manager] phoned me to tell me that she was very sorry but they have a “hot holding” rack for storing food and it appeared that staff eat from this and on this occasion a member of staff had half-eaten a garlic bread and put it back and forgotten about it.’

A spokeswoman for environmental health confirmed that staff had visited the store and given management advice on keeping employees’ food separate from customer orders.

Mrs Carman said: ‘I am appalled that this practice is allowed to go ahead.

‘In my opinion it is unacceptable for a fast food outlet to allow staff to be taking food that is destined for customers.’

The takeaway was last inspected for its hygiene and food safety in April this year when it received a five out of five stars and was rated ‘very good’.

Tracey Matthews, a spokeswoman for the fast food outlet, said: ‘At Domino’s Pizza our aim is to provide 100 per cent customer satisfaction, so it greatly concerns us when any aspect of our service falls below expectations.’

Mrs Carman was offered a full refund, together with £20 credit and some vouchers to donate to charity.