Daniel Amey, 30, thought he had scratched himself until he noticed his finger was swelling up.

The Telegraph reported yesterday he was rushed to hospital where doctors discovered part of a scorpion’s tail in his finger.

Mr Amey (right, photo from telegraph.uk.com), who works at The Food Company said,

"I put my hand in the box and thought I had cut it but by the time I was carrying the bananas, my finger had swollen up to twice its size and it felt like it was burning. The doctor was ex-Army and he knew straight away that it was a scorpion as there was a single impact wound from the sting. He told me that if it had been the other kind of scorpion from Africa, I would have been dead within 15 minutes.”

The greengrocer returned to work the same day but says he will be more cautious when unpacking bananas.