A mother is demanding an apology from Air India after her seven-year-old son found a cockroach in his meal.

Arwa Mamujee, 37, of Livingstone Road, Southall, was horrified when she saw the creature in the food on the family's flight from Mumbai to London in January.

She said: "When my son opened his meal he saw a big cockroach in with the chicken.

"I was shocked and called the stewardess who came and took it away, trying to keep it away from other passengers.

"We were all really upset and did not touch our food for the rest of the flight."

Mrs Mamujee was given a form to fill in to complain about the incident but discovered it was only a standard survey.

"I was very disappointed with the way they have handled it," she said.

She wrote on January 25 but did not get a satisfactory reply, and is still waiting for the issue to be resolved.

"They asked us to send any medical reports in but we did not have any as my son did not actually eat the cockroach," she said, "But the effect was more psycological than physical.

"They clearly don't care if a customer gets a cockroach in their food. Why should I want to fly with them again if this is how they look after passengers?"

Nobody from Air India was able to comment on the incident.