[Faline]

Workers at a factory in Lincolnshire had more than just an incy wincy problem on their hands, when three rather sinister guests turned up unexpectedly from the U.S..
Two black widow spiders, including a deadly female, and a brown widow spider were discovered at the engineering firm in Barton-upon-Humber after they scuttled out of US-imported aircraft engines over the heads of surprised workers who were stripping the engines down for parts.
Workers had been within inches of the deadly spiders who, with just one bite, can cause an painful death.
Unaware that their visitors from across the pond could be lethal, the men snared the venomous creatures by placing glasses from the work canteen over them.
They are now keeping them alive in jam jars at the office, feeding them with flies and other spiders while they try to find them a suitable home.
The spiders travelled to TC Power over from Kansas with the engines on a KLM flight and aboard a North Sea ferry.
When the engines arrived, supervisor Matt Eales, Dan and Dave Peacock, Darren Elliott and Dave Holden, got to work lying underneath them with spanners.



Mr Holden glanced over and saw an unusual looking spider scuttle out of one of the engines, just a foot away from a colleague's head.
He said: ‘Look at the size of that thing. That is not a normal spider.’
Mr Holden recalls: ‘We got a glass from the canteen area of the workshop and put it over it with a piece of card underneath it and tied some cloth around it.’

Once the spider was captured they were able to have a good look at it and could identify it as a female black widow from its distinctive red markings.
Later that afternoon a male black widow emerged, followed by a slightly less poisonous brown widow the next day, which they found hanging from its web off the side of one of the engines.

Taking no more chances, the team searched the engines for more webs or spiders using a boroscope – a tube with an eyepiece on one end used for peering inside engines.
Before men returned to work a risk assessment was carried out, advice taken from North Lincolnshire Council environmental health, and the workers were kitted out with thick overalls and gloves.
Managing director Stuart Elliott said: ‘It is quite scary when you think we have had three or four people lying around underneath the engines, working within five or six inches of the frames where we found the first female black widow.
'We are quite eco-friendly here. They put paper tops on so they could breathe, put wet cotton wool in and fed them flies and other spiders. They have made webs and have got them there for after dinner.
'We have had common or garden house spiders on engine frames when they have come in from abroad but nothing as deadly as this.’
Craig Gledhill, zoo manager of the Jungle Zoo in Cleethorpes, underlined how dangerous the black widow was, particularly the female. He said 'It would be a very serious incident if a healthy human were to be bitten. But if they were to receive quite swift medical treatment they would probably survive.
'But if the individual was elderly or a small child or anyone with a heart or respiratory problem then they would be in great danger from the neurotoxicness of the venom.'
Mr Holden added: 'We are pretty confident there are no more about. They have inspected the frames and looked inside and can't see any more.
'All you can do is have a laugh about it and get on with it. We work all over the world in places like New Guinea, Angola, and Australia so we are used to seeing deadly spiders - but not in Barton upon Humber.'

[Viking64]

When I first read the title, I that it was referring to women who had lost their husbands during a drive-by shooting.

[Slanger]

we have black widow spiders everywhere round here in the yard...kinda sucks

[scubahood]

they should hire an exterminator.. i'm all for spiders usually but come on..

invasive species anyone?

[Kanda444]

we have a ton of those in my area too. found one on a drinking fountain when i was in high school... and i fell through a floor on a house my dad and i were remodeling and when i pulled my leg up from the crawlspace, there were two running up my leg. I ran around screaming like a girl "Fuck!!! get em off me! get em off me!"...fuckin things anyway.

[güttsfükk]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-14493664

[kellyhound]

guess they were lucky

[Zodiak]

That's a huge fucker!

[Karma]

Black widow spiders are actually very small. The brown recluse spider is another nasty little spider in North America.
Used to see them in our unfinished basement quite often.

[Timoli]

Deaths are actually pretty rare from black widow bites - kids and the elderly are worse affected.