Niamh Shackleton
An inquest into Hannah Jacobs' death has found 'failures' in the run up to the 13-year-old's passing.
Hannah sadly died in February 2023 after her mother ordered her a hot chocolate at a Costa Coffee shop in Barking, London.
Since she was a child, Hannah had severe food allergies to fish, eggs, and dairy, and upon ordering their drinks, her mother Abimbola Duyile says that she asked for two soya hot chocolates and requested that they thoroughly clean the equipment.
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However, it seems as if Hannah was given normal cow's milk instead, sparking the 13-year-old schoolgirl to have an allergic reaction.
Neither Hannah or her mom had an EpiPen at the time and rushed to a nearby pharmacy for help.
The teenager collapsed in the chemist and they called for an ambulance. Tragically, Hannah died in hospital later that day.
Over a year on from the traumatic experience, an inquest into Hannah's deaths has been conducted. It came to an end yesterday, on August 16.
The inquest concluded that Hannah had died after a 'failure to follow the processes in place to discuss allergies', and a 'failure of communication' between the coffee shop staff and Hannah’s mother.
Assistant coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said: "The root cause of this death is a failure to follow the processes in place to discuss allergies combined with a failure of communication between the mother and the barista."
As well as this, it was said that the barista who served the pair failed to show the mom an allergy booklet that Costa Coffee staff are required to present to customers in instances like this.
A member of Hannah's mom's legal team went on to read a statement outside the court.
"Having heard all the evidence over the last week, it is clear to me that although the food service industry and medical professionals are required to have allergy training, the training is really not taken seriously enough," they said.
"Better awareness is really needed in these industries and across society of the symptoms of anaphylaxis."
Reportedly, one of the baristas who worked at the Barking branch had failed their allergy training test 20 times, something Abimbola's legal team labeled 'not acceptable'.
Faton Abrashi, a regional operations manager for Costa Coffee stores in London whose responsibilities include allergy procedures for staff, told the inquest on Thursday that Costa baristas were only permitted to serve customers who had said they had an allergy when ordering, if they had completed specific allergy safety training.
LADbible Group has previously approached Costa Coffee for comment.