Cristina and her mother and the suspicious matter inside the crate (Picture: Supplied)

A woman said she was horrified after discovering what she believed to be a box of ‘human poo’ at the reception area of a hospital.

Cristina Laba, 33, was dropping her mother Elena Bumbes, 54, at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, when she noticed the crate.

She said she and a number of other visitors to the hospital were shocked by the brown substance they saw inside, assuming it to be faeces.

But the hospital says the matter inside the box was actually paper, which had been used to soak up a leak.


Cristina took her mother to her appointment yesterday at around 10am and returned to the reception area 15 minutes later to find the box still on the floor.



It had not been cleaned up but instead a yellow cleaning sign had been placed next to it.

Cristina said other people in reception were just as shocked as she was (Picture: Supplied)

She told Metro.co.uk: ‘It was just such a shock, we were not expecting it.

‘I found it absolutely disgraceful – especially against hygiene standards.

Cristina, of Wood Green, north London, said that when she first arrived, the receptionist ‘was stood next to this crate giving me directions’.

She said: ‘He was acting like nothing had happened.

‘Everyone around the reception was looking at it and disgusted but there was no explanation.

‘Then me and my mum went off to where we needed to go and I was saying to her as we were walking back down “I should have taken a picture, no-one is going to believe me”.

‘Then when we got back to reception I was shocked to see that it was still there.’

A spokesperson for the hospital said the box was just filled with paper after a leak (Picture: Supplied)

Cristina with her mother, who was in hospital after breaking her leg (Picture: Supplied)

She added: ‘The thing is, I didn’t mind it was there. What made me angry was that we were gone for maybe 15 minutes and it had not been cleaned.

‘Someone had bothered to put a sign up instead of being bothered to take it away.’

Cristina said she could not smell anything but added: ‘I didn’t want to get too close.’ She admits she did not ask staff what was inside the crate and left before it was moved.

Security team at the hospital reviewed CCTV and confirmed that paper was inside the box – not excrement.

An Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust spokesman said: ‘A crate was placed in reception to catch a small amount of water that was dripping from the ceiling.

‘Some crumbled paper was later discarded in the crate. We apologise for any concerns this may have caused.’

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