An MP with a phobia of spiders was left red-faced after a can of insecticide sparked a security alert at Parliament.
Workers in the House of Commons post room called security when a package addressed to Tracey Crouch, the Conservative MP for Chatham and Aylesford, appeared to be leaking.
Carefully unwrapping the item, guards found a can of spider spray.
Miss Crouch explained to Kent Online that she had ordered the spray in order to wage war on her eight-legged foe.
She said: "I had ordered the stuff from Amazon as my house in Aylesford is full of spiders.
"It's an old house and they are just everywhere. They can be huge!
"I was a bit embarrassed to say the least when my London staff rang to ask if I had ordered spider spray."
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The security scare followed the rather worrying news that London is seeing a massive influx in Britain's most poisonous spider.
Reports of the deadly false widow spider, also called steatoda nobilis, are on the rise across London and Kent with rising temperatures driving the dangerous arachnid up north.
Reports of the false widow are on the rise
The “British black widow”, which releases venom and can kill those who are allergic to it, is likely to spread northwards in years to come, according to the Natural History Museum’s Insect Information Service (IIS).
The IIS hears of about 10 cases of spider bites each year, although no one in the UK has ever died as a result of one.
Alex Michael, 36, a tattoo artist from Sidcup in London told News Shopper how his hand turned yellow and black after being attacked by the spider.
His hand was gruesomely swollen “like a balloon” for five weeks until doctors gave him a course of antibiotics," he said.