PEST control officers in Darlington have been inundated with calls asking them to deal with insects, and are urging people to be patient.

A spokesman for Darlington Borough Council said: "It's mainly ants and wasps and we call these nuisance, rather than health hazards like mice and rats. We are on target with dealing with calls for mice and rats, but insects have caused us problems because there's been a couple of mild winters and most gardens have a lot of ants.

"Our target is five days, but we would urge people to be patient because we're up to our necks dealing with them."

Single mother Sharon Walls, 32, of Eden Crescent, said: "It started in the kitchen. My mum had to come round and ripped my curtains down because they were covered in ants. The other night we saw them all over the front room. We sprayed the wall with bleach and my mum sprayed powder all over.

"I've had to move upstairs because they're all over the living room floor. I've got three children and I'm having to buy takeaways because I will not cook in that kitchen."

Ms Walls said she phoned the environmental health department more than a week ago, but they did not come out after five days as promised.

Now she has been told it will take a further two weeks