A family in Pitt Meadows is looking for answers after their son made a shocking discovery inside a used board game, bought at Value Village.
Six-year-old Angus Selman said he found two tubes of glue and what looked to be a used hypodermic needle among the things inside the box.
"I rushed back to my mom and I told her and then she told my dad," he explained.
Angus’ mother, who purchased the Mouse Trap board game from a Coquitlam Value Village, says she was shocked to see what her son was holding.
"I just didn’t believe it," said Paula McMurray. "I just said ‘Get away from the game,’ because I don’t know what else is in there."
McMurray, who's a nursing student, immediately examined her son and his two friends.
She was happy to learn that none had touched the needle, despite Angus having taken the cap off.
"How lucky am I that nothing did happen, we could have spent last night at the hospital getting tested for diseases," she said.
The family says they called the Value Village where they had bought the game, but didn’t get a reply until hours later and through voicemail.
Angus’ dad Mitch Selman explained the store’s apology came with a sales advertisement.
"When I heard back, I thought ‘Are you kidding me?’. My son could have got Hepatitis C and possibly what else and you’re worried about selling me men’s used socks at 50 per cent," Selman said.
The company defended itself, saying it works to ensure an incident like this doesn’t occur.
"The safety of our customers and team members is of utmost importance to us. All of our stores have strict evaluation policies in place and are committed to evaluating all items for quality assurance before they go to the sales floor," a Value Village spokesperson told CTV News.
Mitch Selman explained he is still quite frustrated about the entire experience.
"It seems to me that it was someone’s drug stash and for it to pass through their inspection stages it’s a little bizarre," he said.
Both parents think it may be some time before they consider shopping there again.
"For them to release this into the hands of my son is incomprehensible," Selman said.
