'Bedbugs are in my walls, floors and plug sockets'

The family is plagued by the creatures as they try to sleep

A mother has described her family's desperation to leave their bedbug-infested council property.

Beatriz, who lives in Sheffield with her two children, said they had been plagued by the parasitic critters for three years.

She said: "I can't sleep at night because I feel like I have to be up to be able to kill them."

Sheffield City Council said they would "continue with treatment until the issue is resolved".

The family suffer painful bites and itches as a result of the insects

Beatriz, who the BBC is only referring to by her first name, said that in 2020 she found an insect on her pillow at her Toppham Way home and disposed of it.

A few months later, one of her children woke up one morning "totally covered in bites".

She said: "When I went to check the bed, inside and underneath there were hundreds of the same bugs that I found on my pillow.

"I went online to check if I could find out what they were and that's when I found they were bedbugs."

Sheffield Council arranged treatments but the infestation returned, she said.

Beatriz said the whole family had received lots of bites, saying they were "so so itchy, it burns you".

She said: "I feel depressed, I feel tired. I am exhausted, completely exhausted."

She said she now wanted the authority to move them somewhere else as the treatments were not solving the problem.

She said: "They are inside plugs on the wall, they are under floorboards, they are inside the walls in the property and at this point I just want to move out."

Beatriz says she is desperate to leave the council property

Sheffield City Council said further treatment would be carried out in the next few days.

Councillor Douglas Johnson, chair of the housing policy committee, said: "We know how distressing it must be for anyone to be experiencing bed bugs in their home.

"We have been treating the property and the surrounding properties, and we will continue with treatment until the issue is resolved."

Beatriz's experience comes amid increased reports of bedbugs in the UK and Europe.

Pest control technician Paul Spiers, from West Yorkshire-based Copley Pest Solutions, said they had seen a rise in callouts about the creatures this year.

Pest controller Paul Spiers says they are seeing increasing callouts for bedbugs

He said bedbugs now accounted for 20% to 30% of their workload.

He said: "The initial telltale signs will be customers getting bitten, front or back, when they are laying down."

He said people might also see specks of blood on their bedding.

He said there was often a stigma that came with having a bedbug infestation, but they were not linked to a lack of cleanliness.

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