Shoppers forced to flee as thousands of bees swarm high street

Police and pest control were forced to intervene after a high street became swarmed with thousands of ‘wild colony’ bees.

Pest controllers from Gloucester City Council rushed to the scene and even Gloucester Police officers joined in to clear the city.

Shoppers had to flee and hide as the insects engulfed the city centre at around 1.30pm on Tuesday.

Thousands of bees could also be seen converging around a bike that was locked to a cycle rack.

Emily Martindale posted a video of the bees surging through Westgate Street as she hid nearby.

She said: ‘It wasn’t very nice being stuck and not being able to get out with the kids.’

James Hucclecote wrote: ‘Bee swarm just passed over residential housing in Hucclecote!! Absolutely horrendous.’

It not known how the bees ended up on the high street.

Owner of BS Honey Bees Dan Bates said: ‘They’re probably a wild colony.

‘Either that or someone keeps bees somewhere within the centre, people do keep bees on roof tops, or they were living in a cavity wall.’

He said the bees would be swarming because it is ‘their natural instinct to multiply’.

Mr Bates added that they will most likely be there for a day before they move on naturally.

He said: ‘Once they’ve all agreed to go to a certain place, they’ll move in to that wall.

‘The best option in that situation is to get a bee keeper out to catch the swarm and re-house it properly, rather than go into someone’s wall.’

However, he said they ‘wouldn’t blink an eye’ and people should not be intimidated.