Bedbug chaos strikes Southeastern trains AGAIN as six services cancelled after parasites spotted crawling between passenger seats

Just weeks ago, multiple rail services were cancelled after a pest outbreak at the West Marina train care depot near Hastings in East Sussex, which handles Southeastern Railway routes.

Now, according to The Telegraph, the parasites were spotted and photographed on a Southeastern Railway City Beam service, resulting in its cancellation.

The bugs were discovered at around 6.30am on a train operating from Slade Green Depot in Bexley.

An internal email on Thursday morning read: “A driver in Hastings train crew room reported three bed bugs on a poster near the door.”

Additionally, an incident log described how an “infestation” had been found by an off-duty member of Kent Integrated Control Centre staff, prompting the service to be cancelled, and subsequently others, after it arrived at Dartford.

However, despite the train remaining out of use on the Friday, Southeastern said specialists had checked the train and found no traces of bedbugs in passenger areas.

And a spokesman told the outlet: “There have been no bedbugs found on Southeastern trains in areas used by passengers.”

But, according to the newspaper, photographs are said to show a red bedbug on a passenger seat, and another between two seats.

After the bugs were also reported on the 10.45am Charing Cross to Hastings service on Thursday, the 12.50pm departure in the reverse direction was cancelled.

Last month, multiple Southeastern services were cancelled after drivers discovered the pests in their cabs and on their bags.

Internal messages revealed that drivers refused to board affected trains and accused management of not treating the problem seriously enough.

One train, dubbed the “Bedbug Express” by staff, made several trips between London and Kent on Tuesday with two carriages sealed off after a driver spotted the pests at one end.

Service control logs showed how the train was allowed to keep running despite the spread until it managed to find somewhere to stop for inspections.

Maintenance workers attempted to pull it from service, but controllers are thought not to have been told of the issue.

An incident log recorded that a driver refused to enter the cab of the affected train to reposition it at the depot unless “provided with a white full-body protection suit… in case any bugs transfer to themself”.

No suits were available, which left two services cancelled – including one train trapped behind the bedbug-affected unit.

Bedbugs are small brown insects sometimes described as “nits for fully grown adults” which conceal themselves in warm crevices before emerging at night to bite, leaving spots and rashes.

Experts have recently warned Britain could be in the grip of a worsening bedbug epidemic, with insects developing resistance to pesticides.

Infestations have surged by between 20 and 25 per cent annually across major European cities, according to monitoring firm Valpas.

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