Costa death: Barista struggled with allergy request from behind screen

The assistant coroner asked Akter if she had difficulties understanding customers from behind the screen at the Costa till, to which she responded, “Not too much, sometimes.”

• EasternEye
• 14 August, 2024

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By: EasternEye

A COSTA Coffee barista admitted that she struggled to understand customers from behind a plastic screen, which may have contributed to the death of 13-year-old Hannah Jacobs, who had severe dairy allergies.

Hannah died hours after sipping a hot chocolate ordered by her mother at a Costa branch in Barking, east London, an inquest heard on Tuesday, according to The Telegraph.

Abimbola Duyile, Hannah’s mother, testified that she ordered two soya milk hot chocolates and informed the staff about her daughter’s dairy allergy. However, the barista, Urmi Akter, who provided her testimony through a Bengali translator, claimed she was asked for one small and one medium hot chocolate and did not hear any request for soya milk.

Akter acknowledged that Duyile mentioned her daughter’s dairy allergy but said she only requested that the milk frothing jug be thoroughly washed, reported the newspaper.

Dr Shirley Radcliffe, the assistant coroner, asked Akter if she had difficulties understanding customers from behind the clear plastic screen at the Costa till, to which Akter responded, “Not too much, sometimes.”

Akter had been working at the Barking branch for eight months at the time of the incident in February.

The court heard that Costa’s allergy training instructs staff to show an “allergy book” to customers, but Akter did not do so. When asked why, Akter declined to answer, citing legal advice.

Hannah began vomiting at a dental practice in Barking, where she went for an emergency extraction shortly after consuming the drink.

Despite being offered an EpiPen by a dental nurse, which doctors say could have saved her life, her mother refused it, opting instead for antihistamines, The Telegraph reported.

The inquest in the case is still ongoing.