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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

...to be cross with the local Council?

56 replies

HappyAgainOneDay · 06/08/2014 16:28

I have a wasps' nest in the house. They get in through a hole high up in a spot of mortar - near the bathroom.

I came home from holiday (I always close internal doors when I go away) only to find the kitchen awash with dead wasps and live ones trying to get out of the kitchen window - hot weather while I was away, I suppose. I think they get in somewhere near the washing machine or above the gas boiler. There were some in the bathroom as well but a lot fewer. None in any other room. This is the first time I've noticed any.

I was advised to contact the Council's Pest Control Department so I did only to be told that they don't 'do' pest control any more. What do I do now. I'm forever vacuuming picking up dead wasps and letting out the live ones.

OP posts:
TidyDancer · 06/08/2014 19:22

My district council offer the service and they are very good.

I can't stress enough though, DO NOT CALL RENTOKILL. You pay for the name with them. Get a small local independent firm in, you're looking at between £50 and £100, not the unlimited amount Rentokill will charge.

icclemunchy · 06/08/2014 22:04

Private pest control company should be between £40-£100 depending in area (were in London and charge £70+vat) a good company will also give you a guarantee and depending on access it can be hard to get enough poison into the nest

IsChippyMintonExDirectory · 06/08/2014 22:09

You could call the daily mail and do a story, when you get photographed be sure to do a sad face and point at the dead wasps

ChippyMinton · 06/08/2014 23:18

No I'm not Wink
How weird Confused

IsChippyMintonExDirectory · 06/08/2014 23:20

Bah Chippy!! So you are the culprit of why I couldn't have ChippyMinton as a username Grin

Btw I'm not a creepy stalker, my NN refers to a children in need sketch...promise Confused

ChippyMinton · 06/08/2014 23:28

Been here long?

IsChippyMintonExDirectory · 06/08/2014 23:31

About 18 months, NC though to this username about a year ago

ChippyMinton · 06/08/2014 23:36

Any more if us out there do you think?
It gave me a Shock. I though - I didn't post that. Or name change.
I've been here forever.

ChippyMinton · 06/08/2014 23:37

Any more of us out there do you think?
It gave me a Shock. I thought - I didn't post that. Or name change.
I've been here forever.

IsChippyMintonExDirectory · 06/08/2014 23:42

Nah us Chippys are special and two one of a kind Grin

allisgood1 · 07/08/2014 00:04

YABU and extremely tight

HappyAgainOneDay · 29/08/2014 20:30

Yeah, well. I've been stung by a wasp today so have e-mailed a local Wasp Man and he's coming tomorrow.

I have the wasps in the bathroom and kitchen. I was in the bathroom doing a wee, finished and pulled up my trousers. My thigh suddenly burned. I knew it was a wasp sting and it must must have landed on my trousers while they were down so I pulled them down again and there it was. You may now laugh.

I used tiger balm to try to soothe it (all I have) and it's about 3 inches wide now and bleeding.

OP posts:
ClaimedByMe · 29/08/2014 20:34

Awe our council come out free to council properties and £70 for private properties, I had to pay the £70 but it was worth it, it took 2 seconds for them to spray something in the hole and the wasps were gone within hours!

No idea about the sting, sounds nasty!

YouTheCat · 29/08/2014 20:46

hope this helps

Pipbin · 29/08/2014 20:50

We had a wasp nest in the attic. We got rid of it using some spray from Wilkos.

HappyAgainOneDay · 29/08/2014 21:07

Thank you. Nice to see that no one put a Grin in their post!

YouTheCat Thank you for the link. I'm holding a pad with vinegar on it at the moment and it seems to be working.

I didn't know that wasp stings can bleed.

£I have to get cash back tomorrow morning because it's going to be £40 - a respectable amount if ClaimedByMe had to pay £70.

OP posts:
HappyAgainOneDay · 30/08/2014 16:47

Wasp man a very naice young man came this afternoon and found a second wasp nest up by the gutter. He took half an hour or so to do the job with a long tube with a spout on the end and a powder that he pumped out of a small tank. He warned me to close the outside doors and windows so I called over the wall to a neighbour whose patio door was open and was fairly close to the nests. Apparently, wasps become angry. Job done and, an hour later, I'm at the vinegar again because a wasp has stung me on the top of a foot. If the wasps have not gone by Monday, the very naice young man will come back.

PS I forgot to ask for cashback at Sainsbo's this morning so had to pay by cheque.

OP posts:
Andrewofgg · 30/08/2014 17:54

macdoodle is acopic a word which the editor of the Oxford Dictionary and I don't know or is it a typo and if so for what?

Andrewofgg · 30/08/2014 17:57

our council come out free to council properties and £70 for private properties

So the council-tax payers provide the service for the council's tenants but not for home-owners or private renters?

If I lived in your district I would be asking the District Auditors, or whatever they have been re-branded as, to think about that!

WandaFuca · 30/08/2014 20:52

Andrew - the term acopic or acopia is a code word sometimes used by some HCPs to indicate a patient's inability to cope with ordinary daily life, e.g. personal hygiene.

I think it's an unwarranted term to use for the OP.

HappyAgainOneDay · 30/08/2014 21:21

MacDoddle It wasn't a case of 'expecting' the Council to do something about our wasps. I thought that our council had a Pest Control Department (some other posters have such a department with their councils) because it used to have one. They were helpful enough by not being rude and telling me to push off and find a commercial company.

This Council used to collect large items for the tip (eg a mattress) at no cost. Now we are charged £25. All councils are different by the look of it.

Thank you WandaFuca. I am clean personally but I suppose having these black and yellow striped insects might make our house seem filthy to other people. Smile

OP posts:
Serenitysutton · 30/08/2014 21:27

Like a few others have mentioned our council deal with this but charge you normal rates. Sounds grim though

Andrewofgg · 30/08/2014 21:28

I too am grateful WandaFuca. That's a nice bit of word formation.

ClaimedByMe · 30/08/2014 21:28

Andrewwofgg I was not amused that I pay full high cos of the area I live in council tax but just wanted rid of the fekin wasps and they did make me priority because I paid Confused

HappyAgainOneDay glad your wasps have been treated, hope you are rid of them soon.

Our council picks up rubbish for the tip too, £12 for upto 6 items!!

ClaimedByMe · 30/08/2014 21:30

Oh and I have now decorated the outside of my house with Waspinators, not very attractive but they seem to work :)

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