When Cleankill was called to a bed bug problem in South Kensington, London, technicians found one of the worst infestations they had ever encountered.
The building they were called to was made up of bedsits which all had sitting tenants. One of the bedsits (an area of approximately 14 feet by 16 feet) was occupied by a man in his mid-70s who lived in one room with his bed, wardrobe and armchair – all of which were heavily infested.
Many office blocks in London have restaurants and shops on the ground floor which can present additional challenges to FMs if tenants do not take steps to keep their areas hygienic and pest free.
This was the case with an upmarket Italian restaurant in central London. Cleankill was called to deal with a serious fly infestation which was spreading through a void into the toilets and then into the eating areas. They were identified as filter flies – small flies about the size of fruit flies – commonly found at sewage farms which provide the ideal breeding conditions.
Make sure your building is well maintained and drain pipes are capped off is the warning from Cleankill Pest Control to London premises managers.
The managers of a commercial office building in Holborn, London, called in Cleankill after staff complained of noises coming from behind a wall.
Raised flooring in office buildings - designed to create space for ducting and cables - provides the perfect space for mice. They can move around the building without being seen and then emerge through openings such as risers used to house electrical sockets.
Cleankill responded to a call from a customer with offices near London Bridge after staff saw mice running around on the carpet.
To help establish the extent of the infestation, a motion-sensitive camera was placed under the floor near one of the risers for two and a half days.
When Hurricane Angus struck the UK last week, it certainly created a great deal of damage. Of course, some people were able to turn what could have been a disaster into something a little more pleasant, such as the people on a GWR train who found themselves stranded at Taunton with free pizza courtesy of Domino’s Pizza and Great Western Railways.
Over the last few weeks you may have noticed there have been a number of terrible stories about bed bug infestations in the newspapers. Being the director of a pest control company, it is my misfortune to have dealt with these difficult pests on more than one occasion and I can assure you that prevention is far better than having to deal with an infestation. As we have seen from the stories, this is a pest that has no qualms about infesting both up-market and down-market establishments.
A New Year means, of course, the inevitable New Year’s resolution. We all start the New Year with the best of intentions and then watch as they slowly slip away. By the end of the year, most of us have completely forgotten our resolutions, just in time for them to become next year’s resolution. This year, however, I have a New Year’s resolution suggestion for your business that you will thank me for this time next year.
As I sat watching the BBC’s brilliant adaptation of Hilary Mantell’s ‘Wolf Hall’, my mind turned towards clothes moths. Well doesn’t yours? It is an occupational hazard for the professional pest controller. Watching Mark Rylance’s mesmerising performance, it suddenly dawned on me that here was an Age when clothes moths should have been a real problem.