Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Antony Thrower & Charlotte Lillywhite

Families plagued by flat cockroaches that crawl into kids' ears and 'blew up an oven'

Fed up families begging council bosses for new homes say their tower block is infested with cockroaches who crawl into their children’s ears.

Residents in Eliot and Wentworth Courts say the infestation continues to worsen with bugs found throughout their homes.

Wandsworth Council has received reports of people seeing cockroaches, ants and mice running riot throughout their homes, My London reported.

April Baker, 28, said: “Everyone in this building is sick of this place and the way the council have responded is atrocious.

“I’ve paid out more than £300 for pest control and within days it comes back because all they do is scoot it out of your house into your neighbour’s and they come back.

Cockroaches are plaguing the residents of the tower (Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon WS)

“My oven blew up because the amount of cockroaches got in the wiring, every two days I find a dead mouse in my house and the ants are literally, you know the buzzerphone, there was a nest so bad it pushed it off the wall."

Davinia Johnson, 43, who lives in a two bedroom flat in Eliot Court with her partner and four children, added: “When I first moved here we didn’t have any infestation the way it is now - you might see them now and again but not really.

“When I first moved in here it was better. It’s got worse since I lived here. Over time it’s got worse as I didn’t have mice, I didn’t have ants, I didn’t have cockroaches, I didn’t have any of this stuff.

“I’d rather you give me high council tax and you give us better properties.”

Davinia Johnson wants to move her family from the infested blocks (Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon WS)

Siobhan, 35, who did not wish to give her surname, said one of her neighbours "found a cockroach in his daughter's ear" and that "cockroaches are just running rife through some of these flats".

She added: "The council have been well aware of the issue in this block for years - we’ve had cockroach infestation, I know that my neighbours have had mice, we’ve got ants at the minute. It’s poor, really, really poor."

"You want to believe in the council, you want to believe that something’s going to get done and you wanna be positive because it’s your home, but [...] you come back every day and nothing’s changed."

The council's housing committee were told earlier this month that pests were being "actively monitored" in the blocks.

A report shared with the committee says eradicating pests in the blocks is "difficult" because they have a communal heating system, with ducts and pipes running between buildings.

Wandsworth Council has been contacted for comment.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.