SPIDERS INVADE
4 schools closed:
THOUSANDS of children were evacuated after four schools were infested by false widow spiders.
Two primary schools and two secondary schools will be closed for up to a month after the critters invaded.
Pest control teams are desperately working to bring the outbreak under control before more eggs hatch.
Ellen Wilkinson primary school, Star primary school, Lister community school and Rokeby school, all in east London, closed their doors on Wednesday.
Hordes of the false widows – the most dangerous species of spider in the UK – were discovered.
Some were as big as a 50p piece. Newham Council confirmed it was working with the institutions to ensure “children can continue to receive an education”. Anne-Marie Fenttiman, 36, whose son Mitchell goes to Rokeby in Canning Town, said: “My son is upset. He’s just started school and he likes being there.
“Luckily, I’m a stay-at-home mum so I can be here with him.
“It would be very different if we both worked full-time as many other parents do.”
The mum claimed her friend was bitten by a false widow earlier this year, leaving him in hospital for two days.
They have a venomous bite but it is not
TOXIC CRITTER: Creepy crawly very potent. A bite from one of the creepy crawlies will most likely cause redness and swelling for a few days.
A spokeswoman for Newham Council said the closures have been put in place “at the headteachers’ discretion as these infestations were in a number of locations across the school sites”.
False widows are believed to have arrived in the UK hidden in a bunch of bananas from the Portuguese island of Madeira in 1879.