{"id":967427,"date":"2026-05-17T22:02:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T22:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/967427\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T22:02:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T22:02:25","slug":"toddler-screaming-and-crying-every-night-as-couple-complain-of-bed-bugs-at-birmingham-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/967427\/","title":{"rendered":"Toddler ‘screaming and crying every night’ as couple complain of ‘bed bugs’ at Birmingham hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Their son has reportedly suffered ‘bed bug bites’ during their first experience living independently in temporary housing\"The<\/p>\n

The family have shared pictures of their room at the Birmingham hotel <\/p>\n

A Birmingham couple claim their toddler was left ‘covered in bed bug bites’ after they were placed in temporary housing.<\/p>\n

The boy, aged one, was ‘screaming, crying and scratching’ every night amid the family’s claims of pests at the Strathallen Hotel on Hagley Road.<\/p>\n

His mum, 17, and dad, 18, say they also discovered bites during their first experience living independently. In a letter seen by BirminghamLive in relation to their child, their GP said “appears to be bed bug bites seen on legs and back” and advised them to return if an infection occurs.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong> ‘Check’ say police over method criminals use to find ‘the key to all your accounts’ amid surge<\/a><\/p>\n

Birmingham City Council said it was ‘sorry to hear’, but pest control “did not find any evidence of bed bug activity” at the hotel. However, the family have since been moved to a self-contained unit, the authority confirmed.<\/p>\n

The family had been living at the hotel since April 15 and after making a complaint about ‘bed bugs’ initially, they were moved to another room in the hotel.<\/p>\n

“We are basically stuck in the room with bed bugs,” she told BirminghamLive before the move. “It’s a massive safeguarding concern.<\/p>\n

“At night, even in the day, but especially at night, our toddler is just screaming for three hours on end.<\/p>\n

“He won’t go to sleep, he is just scratching. He is not properly drinking his milk or juice.<\/p>\n

“He’s just screaming and crying and scratching. He’s got cuts from where he’s been scratching his skin open.”<\/p>\n

\"Their<\/p>\n

Their toddler has been scratching his ‘bites’ in the night<\/p>\n

They were living with her partner’s mum before they were moved into the hotel to await a bidding number.<\/p>\n

“It’s not safe, the bites can get infected or anything. Our toddler is not sleeping properly, they need sleep to properly develop and grow.<\/p>\n

“We have a letter from the GP saying it’s consistent with bed bug bites. A lot of it is on his back and around his nappy area where it’s warm. He did have cuts on his stomach too.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The ‘bed bug bites’ on their son, aged one<\/p>\n

The couple say they have never experienced bed bugs before, but claim to have been affected themselves.<\/p>\n

“It’s on our legs and backs, it’s just everywhere on us,” she said.<\/p>\n

“There’s blood stains on the bed from the bugs. When we wake up in the morning, they left blood stains and that’s what they leave after they bite you.”<\/p>\n

They have issued complaints to both the hotel, run by Best Western, and Birmingham<\/a> City Council, who housed them there.<\/p>\n

“They are saying there is not much they can do until they have proof, but we have already sent photos. It’s hard to get a photo of them running around because they hide.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The family have been left ‘covered in bed bug bites’ <\/p>\n

They also claim the hotel was ‘disgusting’ when they moved in, with a blood stain on the floor in one of the lifts, and a layer of dirt on the skirting board in their room.<\/p>\n

“The rooms are meant to be cleaned before, but the room was disgusting. There was mould in the room, a thick layer of dirt on the skirting boards, blood in one of the lifts, and the carpets are disgusting.<\/p>\n

“We don’t even want him [our son] playing on the floor.<\/p>\n

\"'Blood'<\/p>\n

‘Blood’ on the lift floor<\/p>\n

A Birmingham City Council<\/a> spokesperson said: \u201cWe are sorry to hear about [the tenant’s] recent experience and the impact it\u2019s having on her family: we expect the highest standards from our temporary accommodation providers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOfficers have been investigating this case and on Tuesday (May 5) the family were being moved to a self-contained unit. Pest control have also visited the premises and advised that they did not find any evidence of bed bug activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe council is doing all it can to build new, warm, safe and sustainable homes to reduce the need for temporary accommodation. However, the scale of the national housing crisis means the current rate of house building is not keeping up with demand \u2013 which severely restricts the options we can offer to people in need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have you been affected by this? Have you stayed at the hotel? We would like to hear from you. You can contact us by emailing stephanie.balloo@reachplc.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Their son has reportedly suffered ‘bed bug bites’ during their first experience living independently in temporary housing The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":967428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,81803,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-967427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-hagley-road","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116592179161268999","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=967427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/967428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=967427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=967427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=967427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}