A FAMILY had to flee their home after they discovered a spider’s nest in bananas imported from Columbia.

The Leigh mumwas horrified at the discovery after opening the bag of bananas to find a spider’s nest complete with egg sack.

Fearing for the safety of her 20- month-old daughter, she hastily put them in a plastic container in her garden before calling Waitrose in London Road, Leigh, where she bought them.

She faced a wait to find out if they were deadly Columbian wandering spiders, which are known to nest in bananas before being told they were more likely to be lizard-eating huntsman spiders.

She said: “I bought them last Thursday and didn’t open them until Saturday only to find the nest.

“I didn’t know if any of them had already hatched.

“The store collected them and they told me they weren’t Columbian wandering spiders, but were more likely to be huntsman spiders, which didn’t set my mind at rest.

“Waitrose were brilliant about it. They said we could go to a hotel. We didn’t want to be in the property if there was a possibility it had hatched.

“The only place I could find was the Roslin, so we stayed there for two days while the house was fumigated. They sprayed it with insecticide.”

The mum who had to wash all her child’s toys in case they had been contaminated, added: “I just want to warn other people to check produce carefully.

“I don’t blame Waitrose as it could happen at any store but people do need to be vigilant.”

A spokeswoman for Waitrose said she was unable to confirm the type of spider, but said the nest had been sent for expert analysis and it had been determined the spider’s eggs were not of a type harmful to humans.

An egg sac was discovered to be intact and the spider that laid it was not present.

She said: "The safety of our customers is our absolute priority.

“Whilst none of the investigations have shown a spider, as a precaution we have done everything we can to look after Laura and her family during what must have been a distressing incident and we’ve apologised personally.

“Although this is highly unusual, we’re taking it very seriously and will be working with our supplier to minimise the risk of this happening again.”

The family asked not to be identified.