A FAST food restaurant was closed when a customer spotted a mouse running out of the kitchen as she waited for her order.

Debbie Evans, 45, was standing at the counter of McDonald’s in Week Street, Maidstone, when she saw the four-inch long brown rodent make a dash across the floor and up the stairs.

Mrs Evans, her twin daughters Victoria and Katie and her mother Margaret Kingsnorth, were among many customers who were asked to leave the restaurant at about 12.50pm last Tuesday as staff tried to find the creature.

It reopened later on that day, but was closed again on Wednesday and part of Thursday with notices blaming a “technical fault”. It reopened again on Thursday afternoon. McDonald’s conducted a full investigation and said health and safety was of paramount importance.

The family, who were on a day trip to Maidstone to celebrate the girls’ seventh birthday on Saturday, ended up eating their lunch outside in the street.

Mrs Evans, 45, from Minster, Sheppey, said: “I was standing waiting for my drinks and a mouse ran past me from the kitchen Someone thought it was a rat, but it was a mouse.

“It started running up the stairs and they called one of the staff to get someone to catch it.

“You could hear quite a bit of commotion. And then they came and said: 'You’ve all got to leave’.”

Staff apologised to customers, many of whom were asked to get out in the middle of their lunchtime meals. “It was very busy, it was packed,” said Mrs Evans.

Mrs Kingsnorth, 76, said: “It made me wonder if there are any more.”

The trip to Maidstone was planned so the girls could visit the Build-A-Bear Workshop in Fremlin Walk.

Mrs Evans said she and her family will not be returning to the Week Street restaurant, and she plans to write to McDonald’s.

She said: “The girls thought it was funny. They didn’t see the mouse. I’m not frightened of them, but some people seemed a bit worried. I tried not to think about it when we were eating.”

A spokesman for McDonald’s said: “The health and safety of our customers is of paramount importance to us. It is for this reason that we have taken the decision to temporarily close the restaurant and conduct a full investigation. We have called a third party to assist us with this process.”

She said: “There are some building works going on in the high street and we believe that’s affected the local area.

“It is a busy time for us, but our primary concern is safety. We do have rigorous systems in place.

“We’ve got an internal safety team and an external pest prevention team, who work across all McDonald’s restaurants.”

A spokeswoman for Maidstone Borough Council said an officer had visited the premises and was satisfied McDonald’s had done everything it could to deal with the problem.

She said: “We are quite happy that McDonald’s have taken every step that they should have done.”