Dinner date with danger

Ruth Holroyd, 48, Chalfont, Bucks

Pushing away a salad scattered with peanuts, I anxiously looked up at the brusque dinner lady who was looming over me.

‘But...I can’t eat nuts,’ I stammered nervously.

Undeterred, she told me to eat it anyway.

Just minutes later,

I projectile vomited all over her leather slip-ons.

I was only 7, and hated being different at school.

I’d told the school lunch ladies that I suffered from food allergies.

But it was always met with an eye roll.

It was the 80s, and little was known about allergies.

So, instead, I