A SICK pensioner was left with venomous spiders in her home as her housing association initially refused to attend.

Angela Baker, 65, who lives in Hodges Way, was disgusted when her housing association refused to deal with the false widows she found in her home.

Her grandchildren had told her they had seen spiders in the porch, but when Mrs Baker found one in the house she became concerned.

Mrs Baker has a heart condition and suffers from COPD, and so was frightened that if bit by a spider it could cause her serious injury due to her existing illnesses.

But on contacting Origin Housing, she was advised that they did not have a policy to deal with spiders, and that she would have to contact pest control or a private contractor to deal with the issue.

The grandmother would have to pay a minimum of £140 for someone to deal with the problem.

She said: “It is disgraceful that I was left to deal with this. If I got bitten by one of these it could kill me.

“When I called them all they would say is that they did not have a policy to deal with this, and just gave me numbers for private contractors, but I am a pensioner and there is no way I can afford to do that.

“I got in touch, as I wanted to make people aware of the risk. They are only little, but they are still dangerous.”

After being contacted by the Watford Observer, Origin Housing decided to deal with the issue.

Communications Manager Jamie Mallon said:”Our Pest Control Officer will contact the resident at Hodges Way and arrange to visit her her home.

“If we confirm false widow spiders at the property we will put a treatment plan in place to eradicate the nest and clear the false widow spiders at no cost to the resident.”

The false widow is the most venomous spider, and although they do not usually attack humans, their bites can be dangerous is someone has an allergic reaction, or if a person has an existing health condition.

They are roughly 1cm in size and have brown bodies with more brightly-coloured legs and tend to prefer warmer darker environments.