Family flee home over spider nest in bananas

Jamie Roberts, 31, spotted white patches covering the fruit after he put it in a bowl but assumed it was mould.

But upon closer inspection, he realised the bananas were infested with a spider nest containing hundreds of the insects.

Mr Roberts, who suffers from arachnophobia, and his wife Crystal, 30, rang pest controllers who advised them to leave their home immediately. The couple, along with their two children Georgina, seven, and five-year-old Joshua, left their home in Hednesford, Staffordshire, on February 24.

Pest controllers spent 24 hours fumigating their home but the family were only allowed back three days later after the toxic vapours used to kill the spiders had cleared. The spiders have not been officially identified but the family believe they could have been the Brazilian Wandering Spider, the most poisonous in the world.

Mr Roberts, a civil servant, said: “It was like something out of a horror film because suddenly the window sill was moving with hundreds of these spiders.

His wife, who works for HMRC, bought the pack of bananas from a OneStop store near their home.