Food chain Subway charging punters more than £1 for an EMPTY paper cup
Stores give out empty cups at same price as a drink ... even if customers buy a bottled beverage
SANDWICH giant Subway is under fire for charging up to £1.39 for an empty paper cup.
A Sun on Sunday probe found some shops refuse to give customers a free cup when they ask, even if they are buying a bottled drink.
Instead they must pay between £1 and £1.39 — the full price of a soft drink bought from the firm’s dispensing machines.
Food companies buy paper cups from UK suppliers for between 2p and 5p each — meaning Subway’s mark-up can soar to over 2,000 per cent.
Customer Ben Bacon, 57, was furious when staff refused his request for a cup when buying bottled water in a Subway near Borough Market in London.
He said: “I couldn’t believe it. I was going to take one to drink my bottled water in later and was told I couldn’t by a staff member.
"It was embarrassing. I certainly won’t be visiting Subway again.
“These must be the most expensive paper cups in the country.”
Sun on Sunday reporters visited a string of Subways across the country and found branches in Cambridge, Birmingham, Newcastle and Sevenoaks in Kent all charged for cups.
In Cambridge, a reporter who tried to get a cup with a sandwich was told: “I’m going to have to charge you £1.20 for that one because unfortunately we have to put it through the system.”
Other food and drink chains visited by our reporters, including a Marks and Spencer cafe, Waitrose cafe, Costa Coffee and Caffe Nero, let us have a free cup with a bottled drink.
I certainly won’t be visiting Subway again. These must be the most expensive paper cups in the country
Ben Bacon
In an email to Mr Bacon the company explained that the cups were designed to be used for drinks from dispensing machines.
Each cup was linked to a drink such as Coke which costs between £1 and £1.39.
Subway said stores were “unable to give out a cup to a customer who buys a bottled drink as it can’t be accounted for at the end of the day”.
A spokeswoman later denied it was the chain’s official policy and said it was up to the franchisee of each shop to decide whether to charge.