HUNDREDS of spiders have invaded a street in Bridgwater, leaving home owners saying they feel like they are in a horror film.

As many as 12 families in Wembdon Road have had the outside of their homes and gardens infested by tube web spiders with the invaders filling every hole and crack with their distinctive tube-shaped webs.

Belinda Case, who lives in one of the houses affected, said: “We’ve lived here 15 years and never had anything like it.

“My son, Jamie, first noticed them, saying there were two big spiders in the garden, which he’d seen during the day, that didn’t seem to move.

“We went outside that night with a torch and all we could see were hundreds of green eyes looking back at us.

“It was horrible – they were all over the fence and the outside of the house.

“I haven’t been able to sleep properly since that night.

“It was like something out of a horror film.”

Belinda’s husband, Mark, said they have no idea where or when the creepy crawlies took over their garden, but says it must have been some time over the summer.

He said: “We were doing the fence at the start of the summer and they weren’t there then, and when we came out that night last week with the torch it was covered.

“There were easily 100 of them on our side and the neighbour’s side.”

The couple contacted the council to see if they could get rid of them, but were told they would have to call out a private exterminator as the spiders are not considered to be a public health issue.

However, Mark feels that being left to get rid of the spiders on their own means they can’t be sure the infestation will be gone permanently.

He said: “We can make sure we clear our garden, but if our neighbours or their neighbours don’t do it how long before they come back?

“I don’t see how they can say it’s not a public health issue. Apparently, the effects of the bite can last for months, so if they were to bite a small child it could cause serious problems.”

The spiders, which originally come from the Mediterranean, have been found in the UK since the early 1900s and are now fairly common in the South-West.

They are mostly nocturnal and tend not to be seen at all during the day.

Steven Faulk, an entomologist from Buglife, said: “Tube web spiders aren’t a dangerous species – they can bite, but only if seriously provoked. We’d like to preserve all spiders where possible, so we’d encourage people to live and let live, and just leave the spiders where they are.”