VERMINOPHOBIA ON THE RISE AMONGST FEARFUL YOUNG BRITS

18 December 2007

• Young Brits call on elders for help removing common household pests
• Almost a quarter of young Brits afraid of moths

Verminophobia, the fear of common household vermin such as mice, spiders and cockroaches is on the rise in Britain. Young Brits are almost twice as likely as their elders to fear common household pests such as spiders, mice, cockroaches and even the humble moth according to home emergency experts, Homeserve.

According to the new research Brits are not bred as tough as they once were. In all categories of domestic pests, young Brits were unable to match their parents or even grandparents' nerves in dealing with even the smallest and most harmless of insects. Despite the fact that the UK has no deadly or even dangerous spiders, a whopping 29 per cent of under-25s would need to call in help to catch a spider compared to 11 per cent of over 55s. Only 38 per cent of under-25s would feel confident in dealing with a cockroach, put to shame by 68 per cent of the over 55s.

Pest experts at Homeserve claim that there is a downward trend in home maintenance competence levels amongst younger Brits, and this also includes dealing with domestic pests. Jon Florsheim, CEO, HomeServe Membership said:

"There's certainly no shame in calling in the experts as many people, young and old, do not have the time, patience or perhaps even bravado to deal with pests around the home."

Whilst men were the braver sex, the research showed them to be far from heroic in dealing with common household pests. More than one in five (21%) would call in help to catch a mouse, 17 per cent would call in the experts to catch a bee and 12 per cent would be unable to remove a spider from their property.

The North West of England was the region least competent in dealing with pests. This region was the MOST likely to call in the experts to deal with a bee (38%), a wasp (31%), a mouse (41%), a moth (24%) or a bed bug (51%).

Other key findings form the Homeserve research:

• Rats posed the biggest problem for fearful Brits -; 53 per cent claimed they would be unable to deal with a rat in their home. Women were almost twice as likely as men to call for help (70% versus 43%).
• Arachnophobia was a problem for around 19 per cent of Brits. Fear levels were highest in Scotland with 25 per cent claiming they would be unable to remove a spider from their home.
• Mice were a problem for approximately one third of Brits (35%) -; the research again found a large difference between men and women -; 49 per cent of women and 29 per cent of men were unable to deal with a mouse in a house.

Ends

For more information please contact:

Holly Clark
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
0207 282 2917 / 07917 217 807
Laura Edgecumbe
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
0207 282 2895

Editors Notes

About Homeserve

Every forty seconds a Homeserve engineer comes to the rescue of a British household.

With over 3,000 directly and indirectly employed engineers Homeserve offers the UK's only national emergency home repair service backed by a 24 hour claims handling and repair network.

Homeserve also offers insurance cover for plumbing, drains, electrical wiring and gas central heating. It has over 5.8 million policy members in the UK and a further 1.2 million in the USA and France.