Bedbugs Across the Channel: After Paris, Now London Panics With the Possibility of a Pest Infestation

 

The tiny bloodsuckers who have Paris in a frenzy have reportedly started to cross the English channel and are also causing widespread worries in the UK’s capital.

London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has admitted that the possibility of bedbugs on London’s public transport is a ‘real source of concern’.

Khan is in contact with officials in Paris where footage shows them crawling on seats of buses and trains.

Transport for London (TfL) is keeping an eye on the situation, disinfecting seats daily as part of its cleaning protocol.

 

Daily Mail reported:

“In response to the threat of bedbugs, Mr Khan told PoliticsJoe: ‘This is a real source of concern. People are worried about these bugs in Paris causing a problem in London.’

He added: ‘I want to reassure those listening that TfL has the best regimes to clean our assets on a nightly basis. 

We are speaking to our friends in Paris to see if there are any lessons to be learnt but for a variety of reasons we don’t think those issues will arise in London; but there is no complacency from TfL’.”

Experts have warned that the blood-sucking bugs have developed a resistance to insecticides.

A picture on X shows a pest climbing on the window of a First Bus, and the passenger urges the public transport operator to ‘do something about this, quickly’.

A major UK hotel chain is quizzing guests on ‘whether they have arrived from France’.

The rooms of those who came from France are given a ‘deep clean’ by pest control experts when they leave.

Sky News reported:

“‘I think there’s probably a similar level of issue in London as there is in Paris at present’, microbiologist and founder of Bed Bugs Ltd David Cain told Sky News.

‘They’re already on buses, trains, tubes, cinemas, doctor’s surgeries, public spaces, hospitals’.”

Bed bug infestations rose 65% in the UK from 2022 to 2023.

Natalie Bungay, British Pest Control Association: “‘Reports of bed bug activity tend to increase in the summer as people travel more.

The lack of travel during COVID-19 lockdowns meant bed bug issues were few and far between, so it’s not surprising we’re now seeing a rapid rise in call outs’.”

It is estimated that 5% of households in London have had a bed bug infestation in the last two years.