Bees cause havoc as thousands swarm to shop, student's car and close school

Professional bee keepers called in to remove thousands honeybees that swarmed outside the entrance of a shop, inside a car and in a school playground

  

 

Swarms of honeybees taking advantage of the warm start to this year's spring have caused chaos after they nested outside a shop and 20,000 set up home in a student's car.

A primary school in Sussex had to be closed after the pollinators took over the playground and a man who tried to smoke out a colony from his home using incense sticks ended up causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

A 5,000-strong swarm of honeybees was found nesting outside a shop in central London on Friday.

The bees gathered on a discount sign on the window of Topshop in Victoria Street and were photographed by tourists. It is understood the unusual nesting place was picked by the Queen bee, who landed there first and was quickly followed by her colony.

Tony Mann, a project manager at nearby John Lewis and a trained bee keeper, helped to smoke the European honeybee colony out.