Family forced to flee as flying ants invade home

Margaret Rush was sitting in her living room with her six-month-old daughter Christina when she spotted a few insects on the wall.

Within seconds, she said, her Hillhead Housing Association home was swarming with the creatures.

Margaret, of Meiklehill Road, said: “It was terrifying. I looked up and they were everywhere. My daughter was in her baby bouncer and they were all over her.

“It was like a horror film. I just started screaming my head off and ran out with Christina.”

Margaret said she called East Dunbartonshire Council’s environmental health emergency number - but staff told her they couldn’t help.

She said: “They said they only get rid of vermin, like rats. I think that’s appalling.”

The single parent, who is on benefits, was forced to find £70 to pay a pest control firm to come out to destroy the ants.

Margaret said: “They told me the nest is in the cavity wall and the ants are getting in to the house through a faulty seal around the window. They were just put in recently so there is obviously a problem.”

Margaret, who has the skin condition psoriasis, said she suffered a flare up of her condition after the ants swarmed all over her.

She added: “I was terrified they would bite the baby.”

The ant invasion happened last Saturday, July 25, and on Monday, Margaret was still clearing up dead or dying insects from the living room.

Evonne Bauer, Community Protection Manager at East Dunbartonshire Council said: “Flying ants are normal ants at the end of the season and this can be part of their mating ritual. The council does not treat ants, as pest control applications are not appropriate.

“We can however offer householders simple effective advice for dealing with them.”

A spokesperson for Hillhead Housing Association said that work had been instructed to reseal the window.