London underground bed bug fears

[50yearsdowntheroad]

We travelled to London at the weekend with DC. They are too big to be carried and too little to stand on moving train so they sat down.

I never sit on the tube or trains as I am terrified of catching bed bugs.

What are the likelihood we brought some home after a short ride (2 x 6 stops)?

Hopefully they don’t put their school coats and backpacks on a peg next to anyone else at school, just in case those kids have been to London and brought bed bugs back.

Did you not spray them before you got on the tube?

This is a wind up surely

This is beyond ridiculous.

The plague is very common in London to be fair.

How do some people get through the day?

I have lived in London and travelled on the tube for my entire life and not got bedbugs (and it has never occurred to me that I would). I want to Thailand once , came back and the bed was riddled after a week. Had to destroy a perfectly good mattress and buy a new one. You are more likely to be vomited on , engaged in conversation by a nutter, or sit in chewing gum.

If this is a serious post - if - then I feel very sorry for you, OP. It can’t be fun living with this level of fear.

No, no you will surely get STABBED before you have time to sit on any chewing gum

25 years of commuting and tube travel and nothing like that has ever happened to me nor to anybody I know. I’d suggest you need some help with your anxiety though.

Apparently it is a thing. It terrifies me! I start the week with good intentions; I’ll stand, remove clothes at the front door etc but then I see a seat & think “yes”!

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/10/bedbugs-real-source-concern-london-transport-sadiq-khan

I don’t live in London but I’m only an hour away so I’ve often spent time in London and using the tube. The only time I have ever been bitten by bedbugs was at a B&B in Florence.

And have your phone snatched...

I have commuted in London for 25 years now, taking the tube multiple times a week, sitting down frequently, and I have never once picked up bed bugs. I have never ever heard of a colleague getting bed bugs from the tube either and I must have worked closely with hundreds of people in those years, some of whom I'm sure would have told me they got bed bugs from the tube.

YABU.

Presumably you're not removing your clothes at the front door of the tube? I'm not sure that's allowed.

The only place I have encountered bed bugs is in a quaint rural seaside town.

It was truly horrible - but really I think this Piccadilly Line thing is scaremongering.

I get the tube every day and have done for 8 years. Never had bed bugs

Common in London

I’ve trained my rampant bedbug infestation to form a sort of rudimentary stab vest. When life gives you lemons…

We’ve been unfortunate enough to get beds bugs twice in 16 years both from hotel rooms in the uk. It’s extremely stressful and expensive. So I get the ops fear about picking them up. It’s rare to find them on the underground, trains, coaches, and cinema seats but not totally unheard of.

OP - seriously, I hope the fact that Londoners are taking the piss out of bed bug fears is actually reassuring you that in reality the possibility is infinitesimally small .

I hope you enjoyed your weekend.

Indeed

Err you do know the blitz has ended and hoards of people are no longer filling up the underground platforms and sleeping there to avoid the bombs do you ?

Quite likely OP. I’m afraid you’re going to have to throw your children out.