Most people like to keep spiders at arm’s length, particularly if they’re big, black and have green fangs.

But Seb Pollard’s encounter would leave any arachnophobic with nightmares.

The 33-year-old had a particularly creepy contact with a tube spider - one of Britain’s largest species.

As he put his jacket on he felt something tickling his bare skin, and after shaking his arm, jumped as the long-legged lodger crawled out onto his hand.

Seb, from Kingston, near Canterbury, said: “I have to admit it gave me quite a scare and freaked me out a bit. It was pretty big. Like most people, I’m not a big fan of spiders.”

It happened at the Tradex Kitchens depot in Folkestone, where Seb had earlier had an encounter with what he believes could have been the same spider.

He said: “A couple hours before I had been unloading some worktops, which were covered in protective polythene.

“I saw a big, black spider actually trapped under the polythene, which I assumed was dead but when I cut open the wrapping, it was still alive. I got some paper, which it crawled onto, and then I put it outside.

“Then a couple of hours later when I put my jacket on, I found the same-looking spider in my sleeve.

“I guess it could have crawled back into it - or it’s just a coincidence. I put it back outside again anyway.”

Seb’s day of frights did not end there though, because his brother Ben, who works with him, decided to play a prank - stuffing a big fake spider up Seb’s jacket sleeve.

Seb said: “I put my jacket on to go home and felt something and thought ‘here we go again’.

“Then out popped this big, black spider, which fooled me for about a second. Everyone in the office thought it was very amusing.”