A SHOCKED employee got more than she bargained for as she unpacked a parcel at a Bolton tropical plant store.

Claire Varey, a contract business assistant at Ridgway Park Tropical Planting Limited on Darwen Road, Bromley Cross, was confronted with a snake, which had been accidentally "imported" along with a pot plant from Sri Lanka.

The discovery was made while Claire, 23, of Thornfield Road, Tottington, was unpacking the box.

A startled Claire rushed from the shop to the office to tell Ridgway director John Cain.

He said: "It was not what Claire was expecting. The snake was firm and shiny and looked as though it was alive.

"But when the RSPCA arrived, they confirmed that it was dead."

Claire's father Ron, the former Jumbles warden, used to do a bit of taxidermy and he put the snake in a jar of formaldehyde.

It is thought the snake was alive when it left Sri Lanka because it had shed its skin in the box.

It is about 18 inches long and staff were loath to touch it - because some of the world's smallest snakes are also the most poisonous.

Mr Cain added: "The plant was ordered at the International Gift Fair held in Birmingham last month and arrived at the shop this week. It had been imported by another company who delivered it unopened.

"We are keeping the snake in a cabinet at the shop and I hope it doesn't frighten customers off.

"Half of the order is still to be unpacked and there is no telling what we might find in the other boxes."

The snake is to be taken to Bolton Museum to find out its type.

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