by Emma Rae Woodhouse, reporter

A teen from Kent is recovering from an uncomfortable spider bite as four schools in London close due to infestations.

The schools in the capital have been infested by venomous false widow spiders and headteachers decided to close the schools as a precaution until the issue is dealt with.

Meanwhile a few miles south of the discovery, one teen has told his story of how he found the remains of a spider in his bedsheets.

Ryan Leal, 17 from Gravesend, Kent, began panicking after suffering from a reaction on his forearm.

He stressed: “My arm felt extremely itchy so much so that I struggled to sleep and in the morning when I woke, the area of the bite was wet and a little sticky which I brushed off as sweat.

“But as the day went on my arm continued to produce a sticky substance and burnt mildly.

“I had suspicions it may have been some kind of bite as there was one small red pierce mark, but I didn’t want to believe it.”

After some investigation of what could of happened, Mr Leal found spider remains in his bed.

“I turned my light on and there was crushed spider legs and body parts scattered along my bed.

“I couldn’t stop cringing and was very freaked out.

“Straight away I changed all my bed sheets and didn’t want to go to sleep.

Despite the fear caused by the spider presence, Steven Trim, Founder of Venomtech, a pharmaceutical drug laboratory which specialises in spider venom, said the school closures were a ‘total overreaction’ and it was an unnecessary precaution.

He said: “False widows have been in the UK for about 150 years and the papers with confirmed bite reports where the false widow has been positively identified, don’t show any ulcers and messy wounds like you see in the Daily Mail.

“A false widow bite can be quite painful and can cause mild nausea and symptoms associated with a mild neuronal disturbance.

“They’re really nowhere near as bad as what people say and they’re not as dangerous as their black widow cousins.”

Mr Trim said the little remains left of the spider which bit Mr Leal made it hard to identify ‘but it is possible that it is a species of the false widow.’

As spider seasons takes off this month, Mr Trim says most of the eight-legged creepy crawlies that people find in October are giant house spiders.

“These are quite different to False widow spiders. He says.

“These are much bigger, have larger legs and are matte coloured unlike the false widow which is shiny.

The advice the expert gave to finding any spider out of its web which may be in your way is to “catch it in a cup or a glass and put it outside.”

Easy for you to say!