Venomous hobo spiders may have been spotted in Kent along with some supersized specimens that are giving arachnophobes the creepy crawlies.

The KM Group’s senior key accounts executive Jenny Coxall believes she saw a hobo spider – known in Britain as tegenaria agrestis – in her garage.

Jenny, from Greenhithe, said: “It was really aggressive – normally when you’ve got them under a glass they just sit there but this was rearing up against the side, trying to get out.

“I’m not scared of them at all; I’m one of those people who captures them and lets them out – I can’t just squish them.

“I’d rather they were about to catch flies which I can’t stand.”

'Hobo spider' is the American name for a native British species called tegenaria agrestis.

Whether it poses a threat to humans is subject to debate – in America it has been considered a dangerous species, with bites purported to cause necrosis, but an expert from the Kent Wildlife Trust says the evidence for this is unclear.

Kent Wildlife Trust Thames Gateway officer Greg Hitchcock said “Most house spiders can deliver a small nip, but there is no real evidence tegenaria agrestis is dangerous to humans.”

Dangerous or not, many people are seeing more spiders in their homes and gardens, including some disconcertingly large ones.

Solicitor Nicholas Ridley-Wilson, from Groombridge, was shocked to discover a spider “the size of his hand” sitting on his floor when he came downstairs one morning.

He said: “I just saw this thing sitting in the corner.

“I rushed into the kitchen to get a glass but by the time I got back it had been cornered by both the cat and the dog.

“The cat gave it a swipe, then proceeded to eat it.”

Mr Hitchcock said last year’s mild winter is to blame for the influx of arachnids.

He said: “The mild winter meant fewer spiders were killed off due to the cold so there may be more about, but there is no evidence that they are any bigger than usual.”

Identifying spider species is also a challenge according to Mr Hitchcock, who said many are hard to tell apart without a microscope.

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