A doctor has slammed her local David Lloyd branch after the gym took nearly two weeks to respond to concerns over faeces-covered toilets and dirty changing areas.

Medical consultant Ayse Huseyin pays £180 a month to exercise at the health club in Darenth road, Dartford but claims conditions are "putrid".

The 36-year-old from Longfield, selected the gym as it allows her two small children to use the leisure facilities for an additional membership fee.

But she says the club has consistently failed to live up to expectations with regards to hygiene and staff behaviour.

Recently, the mum-of-two had been swimming in the outside pool when she claims a life guard consistently harassed her over the supervision of her kids despite them being by her side.

She also claims changing rooms and toilet facilities are often left in "putrid" conditions with "faecal matter not cleaned away" and used towels discarded over sanitary bins.

Then two weeks ago the consultant A&E doctor was dining at the club room with her son and daughter when she made a horrifying discovery.

"You can imagine my disgust and dismay when a live beetle crawled out of the salad after I had eaten half..."

"I ordered an omelette which came with a salad," said Ayse. "You can imagine my disgust and dismay when a live beetle crawled out of the salad after I had eaten half.

"I could not believe it, I jumped out of my seat. I could not eat for the next few days because of that."

Ayse put on a brave face for her kids but says she was "fuming inside".

She added: "I could have ended up vomiting from food poisoning, it was disgusting."

Staff refunded the price of her meal only and told the doctor it was an "external" issue and filled out a food incident form.

Ayse says she should have complained more at the time but didn't want to upset her small children and hoped to deal with the matter afterwards.

"(The manager) kind of said sorry but it was not a big deal for them, it was brushing it under the carpet," she said.

Since then Ayse has made repeat attempts to contact the fitness suite over outstanding hygiene concerns via "every step possible" but says she has hit a "brick wall" every time.

"I tried to deal with it but they were not even going to reply," she added.

It was nearly two weeks later when she received a letter from the general manager apologising for the experience and offering her a months' free membership as a goodwill gesture.

In that letter seen by KentOnline, the club apologised for the state of the facilities.

The David Lloyd manager's letter read: "I am sorry our facilities were also not up to standard during your visit.

"Clean changing and toilet facilities are of course the minimum you would expect and I will not attempt to condone anything.

"Again I will take your feedback and follow this up with our cleaning contract team to ensure we improve in this area going forward."

Ayse claims the condition of the David Lloyd health suite in Dartford is a concern for public health if not addressed.

"I am so concerned and genuinely worried that this dismal experience will happen to other unsuspecting guests," she said.

"It is more than the money, the hygiene is more important. We are in the middle of a pandemic and it is a family club.

The locum consultant also has outstanding concerns over food preparation after the insect incident, adding: "What if that had happened to my children? They were eating salad as well, probably from the same pre-pack bags."

"If that does happen again and I have not taken a stance I will feel guilty as a doctor and a mother."

A spokesman for David Lloyd Clubs said: "We take health and hygiene issues very seriously and were concerned to hear about this member’s experience.

"We have fully investigated the matter with our teams and have subsequently spoken directly with the member who is satisfied with the outcome.

"We always do our utmost to respond to complaints swiftly, however on this occasion our emails to the member went astray, but we have now made contact."

But the consultant A&E doctor has since returned to the facility and claims hygiene concerns remain.

She said: "I'm not happy and it is not resolved as far as I'm concerned."

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