Alarm in Britain over a possible bed bug invasion from France grew as Tube passengers refused to sit on seats, a council in Bedfordshire received an ‘alarming number of calls’ and there was an apparent sighting on a bus in Manchester.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the issue was a ‘real source of concern’ and he had contacted officials in Paris after the French capital became overwhelmed by an outbreak with the insects reported in schools, trains, hospitals and cinemas.
Concerns have grown over an infestation in London after a video went viral over the weekend of what was claimed to be a bed bug on a person’s leg on the Victoria line.
There are also fears the bed bug invasion has reached Luton in Bedfordshire after the local authority said it had received an ‘alarming number’ of calls about the insects. Elsewhere, a bed bug was supposedly spotted on a bus in Manchester.
There has been increasing concern in recent days that the French outbreak could spread to the UK, not least because rugby fans are travelling to and from France for the World Cup – with England playing Fiji in the quarter-final in Marseille on Sunday.
But some experts have disputed whether the creature is indeed a bed bug, with one saying it was not ‘flat enough’ and another saying that the clip ‘looks wrong.’
Another commuter shared a video on TikTok of what they claimed was a bed bug on a Central line train in west London – but, again, this has not been verified by experts.
A different passenger posted a video from the Northern line, saying they would not sit down because they saw what they thought were bed bug eggs on the seat material.
Why are bedbugs infesting France – and are they on the march?
The French government is battling to contain a bout of nationwide panic over bedbugs in Paris just nine months before the capital hosts next summer’s Olympic Games.
Between 2017 and 2022, more than one in ten French households had been infested with bedbugs, the country’s health authority says.
A pest control companies’ organisation in France said bedbug callouts in the June to August period were up 65 per cent on the same period last year.
Several decades ago, bedbugs were kept in check by cheap and potent insecticides – but many, including DDT, were later found to be dangerous to human health and banned.
Bedbugs have successfully developed resistance to other, milder insecticides, scientists have said.
The latest rebound in bedbug numbers in Paris is in part down to a revival in tourism in the wake of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Bedbugs are often carried in clothing and baggage.
Now, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said the threat of France’s bedbug outbreak spreading to the capital’s public transport network is ‘a real source of concern’.
There have been videos shared on TikTok of bedbugs on the Underground in recent days, but none have been fully verified by experts at this stage.
However, the problem may already be set in, with molecular biologist David Cain, founder of Bed Bugs Ltd, saying: ‘The reality is we already have a large enough problem in the UK.’
He added: ‘The thing that sparked all the concern in Paris is already happening in London.’
Transport for London (TfL) is disinfecting seats daily after videos circulated on social media showing train seats on the Paris Metro crawling with the blood-sucking bugs, fuelling concerns that they will still be a problem when the city hosts the Olympics.
However, Richard Wall, from the University of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences, said the insect in the Victoria line video was not ‘flat enough’ to be a bed bug.
He told Metro.co.uk: ‘I’m also pretty confident that it’s not a tick either (too big). It’s worth noting that bed bugs are largely nocturnal.’
And Adam Juson from the pest control company Merlin Environmental said the apparent bed bug did not appear to be real.
He told the Daily Telegraph: ‘It does look sort of like a bed bug but the video is not really good enough to ID from. The bug is not mobile so this could be a remnant from a treatment or one that has got caught on the person’s clothes.
‘We have found bed bugs on trains in the past so it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility but this looks wrong.’
But David Cain, molecular biologist and founder of Bed Bugs Ltd, told Sky News: ‘There’s been a lot of attention, people worrying about bed bugs coming across from France. But the reality is we already have a large enough problem in the UK.
‘Just yesterday there were videos of people showing bed bugs crawling on people on the Tube system in London. So the thing that sparked all the concern in Paris is already happening in London.’
Mr Cain added: ‘Because the problem has exploded so rapidly over the last decade – they’re now in public spaces, cinemas, doctor’s surgeries, hospitals, all over the place, you then have to check your own bed.
‘The reality is we spend an average of 180 hours a month sleeping in our beds. So we really should give them the respect of 30 minutes once a month to clean them.’
Mr Khan said he was concerned, but TfL was doing everything it could to ensure the bed bug infestation in France does not spread to public transport in London.
He told PoliticsJOE: ‘This is a real source of concern, right? People are worried about these bugs in Paris causing a problem in London.
‘I was in contact with TfL last week and this weekend. We’re taking steps to make sure we don’t have those problems in London, in relation to regular cleaning of not just the Tubes and our buses, but talking to the Eurostar as well.
‘TfL have one of the best regimes to clean our assets on a nightly basis. We’re speaking to our friends in Paris to see if there are any lessons to be learned. For a variety of reasons we don’t think those issues will arise in London – but no complacency from TfL.’
In Manchester, a passenger claimed to have seen a bedbug on the 59 bus from Piccadilly Gardens to Oldham Mumps.
