"It's disgusting and it's a health hazard. It's ruining Christmas!" That's the view of these elderly Southampton residents who are facing after a bed bug infestation.

For the past two years, residents of Shaftesbury House, Paynes Road have been dealing with a bed bug infestation, but recently the problem is getting worse.

The communal area, the hallways and some of the rooms are covered in the bugs, and many of the more vulnerable occupants could be facing Christmas day alone as families will no longer visit the infested households.

Carol Denman, who lives in the building, said: "It's disgusting, my grandkids can't come here anymore, and I can't visit them in case I spread the bugs. We're losing our families to this. It's not right, we pay rent and we are living like animals!

"I'm having to go and fork out my own money for bug spray for the hallways. We're paying a communal cleaning charge, and the cleaner won't even come in here!"

Another resident, Carol Nickols added: "I am embarrassed to tell my family what is going on here and that the place I live in is infested. My next door neighbour is elderly and all alone and her family can't come and see her. It's ruining her Christmas."

Some of the older residents usually look forward to transforming the communal lounge into a decorated Christmas Grotto over the festive period, where children from the local nursery come and see the festivities and perform Christmas carols, but this has had to be cancelled through fear of the infestation spreading.

After already fumigating areas of the building three times, residents claimed they were originally told further work wouldn't be done until late January, but Sanctuary Housing have since confirmed work is set to begin on Monday December 23.

A Sanctuary Housing spokesperson said: "We are taking this matter very seriously and share the frustrations expressed by residents. We understand their concerns and can reassure them we are working with the local authority to resolve this issue as soon as we can.

“We will continue to follow the expert advice being provided by the specialist, external contractors we are using at the property and plans are being put in place to begin treatment work on site on Monday 23 December.”