Bedbug Control Worcester Park

On Arrival

Before the group spreads out, take a torch and look at a few of the beds or bunks. It takes very little time and is the single most useful check on the whole trip.

• Mattress seams and the corners of the mattress, especially where it meets the bunk frame
• Joints and bolt holes in wooden or metal bunk frames
• The wall or skirting right beside each bed
• Dark spotting, pale skins or small rusty marks on the bedding provided

Ask everyone to keep rucksacks and kit bags off the beds and, if possible, on hard floors or on a table, zipped shut when not in use.

If Someone Finds Something

Stay calm, because the young people will take their cue from you. Take a photo, and if you can, put a bug or two in a small sealed container or on a piece of clear tape. Tell whoever runs the site straight away; a hostel, a campsite with cabins or a hotel will have its own procedure, and the hotel page explains what the business side looks like.

Move the group out of the affected room if another is available, but move them carefully: sleeping bags and pillows bagged up in that room first, belongings checked, nothing carried loose. Do not spread the group round other rooms with unchecked kit.

Coming Home

Whether or not anything was found, a few habits at the end of the trip cost nothing. Ask parents to unpack bags on a hard floor, not on a bed, to put clothes and sleeping bags through a hot wash and a hot tumble-dry, and to leave the empty bag somewhere away from bedrooms for a few days.

If bugs were found on the trip, send families a short, factual note: what was seen, in which room, and the washing advice above. Our guide to telling people you have bedbugs helps with tone.

Group Kit Stored at the Hall

Tents, sleeping mats and spare sleeping bags often live in a store between trips. If anything came back from an affected site, check it before it goes into storage, and wash what can be washed. Stored kit is easy to forget until the next trip takes it out again. A simple list of which kit went on which trip makes it much easier to know what to check if a problem turns up later, and saves washing the whole store.

If a family in Worcester Park thinks bedbugs came home, an inspection starts from £120 and confirms it before anyone pays for treatment. Treatment itself starts from £220; the Sutton page covers what a family can do in the first fortnight.

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