UK tourist industry braces for an invasion of bedbugs from Paris

Flights will be grounded if ‘super-bedbugs’ are found on board aircraft, and hotel owners will deploy pest control experts to deep clean the rooms of those arriving from France – as the UK tourist industry braces for an invasion of the critters from Paris

• A hotel chain has been quizzing guests at check in about prior visits to France 
• Air France has announced that it will ground aircraft with bed bugs on board  

Hotels and transport operators are braced for an invasion of ‘super-bedbugs’ as an infestation in Paris threatens to sweep through the UK.

The Mail on Sunday has learnt that a major UK hotel chain has been quizzing guests as they check in on whether they have arrived from France. The rooms of those who have are given a deep clean by pest control experts when they leave.

Meanwhile, Air France, which runs up to six direct flights a day from Paris to London, said it will ground any aircraft if bedbugs are detected on board.

The news comes as experts are warning that these ‘super-bedbugs’ have developed a resistance to insecticides.

‘It’s harder to kill them than it’s ever been,’ said Nicolas Roux de Bezieux, of pest control website badbugs.fr. ‘Pest controllers have to return to kill them again because they survive the spray.’

An outbreak of the blood-sucking insects, whose bites cause painful itching, has provoked a wave of disgust in Paris, with residents and tourists taking to social media to post images of the bugs crawling across hotel bed sheets and train seats.

The bugs have been spotted and photographed on various means of transport in Paris 

Eurostar said its trains between London and Paris are to be disinfected if there is the ‘slightest doubt’ of infestation

Air France , which runs up to six direct flights a day from Paris to London , said it will ground any aircraft if bedbugs are detected on board

An outbreak of the blood-sucking insects, whose bites cause painful itching, has provoked a wave of disgust in Paris

Images shared on social media from France show the bugs crawling across hotel bed sheets and train seats

The news comes as experts are warning that these ‘super-bedbugs’ have developed a resistance to insecticides

With thousands of travellers arriving each day from France on trains, flights and ferries, fears are growing that the outbreak will quickly spread here.

Millennium Hotels and Resorts, which operates 18 hotels in the UK, are asking new guests whether they have travelled from France, according to staff at one of its London hotels.

READ MORE: Skin-crawling videos show blood-sucking creatures crawling over seats on Paris trains and buses as France battles ‘invasion’ of the insects 

‘Every time we do the check-in we ask the guest, ‘Are you travelling from Paris?’ ‘ a receptionist said.

‘All the hotels which come under Millennium Group are doing this.’

A manager at the hotel added: ‘As soon as the guests leave, we put that particular room out of service and we just clean everything again.’

Eurostar said its trains between London and Paris are to be disinfected if there is the ‘slightest doubt’ of infestation, while Transport for London bosses said they were ‘monitoring’ the Tube network.

Staff at the five-star Renaissance Hotel at St Pancras train station, the London Eurostar terminus, said no bedbugs have been detected there but staff have received training during the last fortnight on how to spot the pests.

Filippo Lorenzonetto, a manager at the Megaro Hotel near St Pancras, said it has also had no cases of bedbugs but he is ‘concerned’ about the situation in Paris.

Aviation bosses said they are closely monitoring the situation amid social media reports that bedbugs have been spotted in Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport – one of the busiest in the world.

EasyJet, which operates more than ten direct flights between London and Paris each day, last night said: ‘Our aircraft are cleaned to a very high standard every night with key parts of the cabin being disinfected. We continue to actively monitor the situation in France.’ 

With thousands of travellers arriving each day from France on trains, flights and ferries, fears are growing that the outbreak will quickly spread here

Salim Dahou, biocide technician from the company Hygiene Premium, prepares the insecticide against bedbugs in an apartment in L’Hay-les-Roses, near Paris

Bed bugs get their name from their habit of nesting in mattresses, although they can also hide in clothes and in luggage

France has been battling a wave of the creatures invading homes and transport 

The appearance of the insects, which can grow up to around 7 millimetres long, is unrelated to hygiene levels, according to the French authorities

Air France said if suspected bedbugs are reported on board one of its flights ‘the aircraft would be grounded and a specialist team would immediately be dispatched to confirm or rule out the presence of these insects.

‘If the presence of bedbugs was confirmed, a chemical treatment of the aircraft would be carried out.’

A spokesman for Manchester Airport said: ‘We’re monitoring the situation closely and staying in touch with the airlines that fly between here and Paris.’

Additional reporting: Sabrina Miller

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