A man has vented his frustration online after a Greggs store wanted to charge him extra just to heat his food.
Unleashing his irritation on Reddit, he expressed his disbelief at being expected to hand over more money just for the pleasure of enjoying a warm meal.
He shared his annoyance in the thread, writing: "Since when did it cost £1.60 to heat a sandwich in Greggs? Dude I tried to buy a NORMAL baguette as a sandwich deal for £3.75, comes with a drink, and all I wanted was to heat up my baguette. It would have cost me £5.35 to do this. Why?"
Confounded by the surcharge, and reluctant to shell out the additional funds, he sparked a conversation among Greggs enthusiasts who didn't hesitate to weigh in with their thoughts. And the majority weren't on his side. One explained: "VAT. Serving hot food automatically adds 20% tax. That's not Greggs fault. That's HMRC."
Meanwhile, another commented: "£3.75 for the sandwich and drink meal deal, since the sandwich is now a hot sandwich, the deal no longer applies, hence the hike in price, if OP got wedges with it, it'll have gone down to £4.95. It's just the hot food tax and VAT thanks to HRMC like another comment said. It's the reason our sausage rolls and other pastries aren't kept to heat otherwise a sausage roll would be £1.50+ instead of £1.25."
READ MORE: Greggs slammed over sausage roll price as people say they 'used to be £1'
Another customer said: "And is literally nicknamed the 'pasty tax' due to it mainly affecting pasties. Most other hot food sold for takeaway is kept under a heat lamp and designed to be hot takeaway food, whereas if you get a hot Greggs pasty that's just a nice byproduct of getting it once it's just come out the oven."
Despite this, one foodie claimed: "They must have clamped down on this though. I always used to get hot sandwiches in the meal deal, but for the last couple of years it's damn near impossible. There's still a few staff who will just heat it up anyway. I usually just ask after I've paid it I can have it heated up now. I actually used to work at Greggs years ago, and it certainly was never mentioned back then."
Greggs has been approached for a response concerning the surge in prices for its heated offerings. There is some information about it on the website though.
In the "Frequently Asked Questions" section, there's a bit of an explanation. It reads: "If the sausage rolls and bakes were kept hot after they had been baked, then they would be subject to VAT and the customer would have to be charged a higher price, in the same way that we charge VAT on our hot sandwiches which are kept in a heated cabinet and are subject to VAT."
Further adding to the customer's bill, there is a surcharge for those opting to dine in rather than take away, again due to the VAT rules, with the extra cost being forwarded to HMRC.
The website clarifies: "We also charge a little extra in our cafe shops as we provide additional services. We'll always let you know by showing both the eat in and takeaway prices on our shelf tickets."
