send an email to hereIt was meant to be a simple tea-time snack. But two-year-old Evan Waters was left temporarily paralysed in his right hand after he was bitten by a spider hiding in a bunch of bananas.

The youngster was rushed to hospital screaming in agony after got a nip on the fingers as he was eating fruit his mum bought from her local Aldi supermarket.

During Evan's ordeal his fingers swelled up ''like a balloon'' and he was unable to use his right hand. He spent two days in hospital where doctors treated the incident as a spider bite before he was allowed home following a course of anti biotics.

Aldi have since offered Evan and his family four free hampers and £400 in cash as a gesture.

It is thought the spider - which scurried away after the incident - crept into a box of the supermarket chain's ''worldwide' range of bananas whilst it was awaiting shipment to the UK from a warehouse.

But the youngster's mother Kellie Knight, 29, of Bishop Auckland, County Durham said: ''It was horrifying to think my boy was hospitalised because of a spider hiding in the bananas. It was absolutely terrifying.

''The spider had already scurried away when we heard Evan screaming. But his hand blew like a balloon and he was crying for dear life. We had just had no idea what was going until we got to the hospital and doctors said it was a spider bite.

''We didn't know whether it was a Tarantula, a Black Widow or a Huntsman spider. We were determined not fear the worst but Evan looked so poorly and I wished it was me who was bitten.

''There is nothing worse than seeing your child like that and not being able to do anything to help. The doctor said it’s a bite he had never seen anything like it before.''

ALDI said: “Incidents of this nature are extremely rare and we take them seriously. We have apologised to the customer and are investigating this incident with our suppliers.”

Cavendish Press' coverage of the story went as an exclusive in The Sun. If you have a story please contact us on 0161 237 1066 or email [email protected]. We'd like to hear from you.