A VEGETARIAN claims she was served up a turkey dinner and a stone-cold lunch during a pub’s “disastrous” Christmas day dinner service.

Sheila Curtis, from Covingham, was part of a six-strong party that booked into the Messenger pub in Covingham Drive from 2.15pm.

For £37.99 the Greene-King owned pub offered a three-course set menu, complete with mince pies and coffee.

But Sheila said her party was treated to lukewarm soup, stale bread and cold Christmas lunches served three hours late that they refused to eat.

“It was disgusting and I am appalled in every way. It was disastrous,” Sheila said.

“After waiting two hours for starters, which were lukewarm, we waited three hours for a main course. I got given turkey when I ordered nut roast. I told them I wouldn’t order this but they wouldn’t listen.”

Sheila visited with friends and family including husband Martin and mother Kathleen.

“By 5pm I had had enough. I gathered up all the plates and dumped them on the bar, Sheila was given a partial refund but said the dining experience had ruined her day.

“It’s not even about the money. My mum wanted to have some family time with us and she didn’t even get an edible meal. I felt like crying because it didn’t feel like Christmas. All I had in the fridge was some frozen chicken and some microwave rice. I had to give my elderly mother that on Christmas day.”

Yesterday the Adver reported on the Meader-Harris family who ended up eating Quality Street to fill themselves up after they waited more than an hour for starters and were served rock hard stuffing balls for their main meal at the Messenger.

More diners have since come forward to complain.

Messenger regular Samantha Fox, from Park South, who dined with Sheila said: “We go there every week for a roast dinner and we’ve never had any problems, it’s pretty much always been great. But something went very wrong on Christmas day. It was like everything fell apart after 2pm.”

Samantha ended up ordering an Indian takeaway to satisfy her hunger. “I didn’t think I’d be eating a chicken Balti for my Christmas dinner but that was the only place that was open and we were starving.

“We were subjected to diabolical service and treatment throughout the whole day. What should have been a lovely day with friends and family was completely ruined.”

In a Facebook post Messenger manager Jamie Williams apologised for “letting down” the diners.

“Folks. I want to apologise for what happened yesterday and I promise you that no one is more let down than myself as a manager," he wrote.

“I have no idea what went wrong in the kitchen but you people that eat with us regular know that this is not like the Messenger. I know I can’t put yesterday right as it’s been done but I will be in contact with you individually to discuss this matter further. I can’t apologise enough to each and every one of you.”

A spokesman for the Messenger pub said: “We pride ourselves on providing excellent service for our customers and we apologise that, on this occasion, we did not meet the high standards expected of us. We are reaching out to the small number of affected customers to offer our apologies and gestures of goodwill and we hope to resolve this to each customer’s satisfaction, so that we can look forward to welcoming them back to the Messenger in the future.”