A four-year-old boy has branded his home the "bug house" after creepy crawlies invaded his bed.

Pregnant single mum Colleen-Lauren Ennis, 23, has been forced to sleep in her car after she found hundreds of cockroaches in her home.

Ms Ennis moved into the housing association-owned property in Hutchins Road, Thamesmead, on Thursday, June 26 and was told it had been inspected.

However, within hours of moving in she noticed the pests crawling out from every bit of the house and days later she was told the boiler was leaking.

She said: "I moved in because the landlord of my old place was selling up and the council said they’d find me another property.

"It was disgusting. There were hundreds of the cockroaches crawling out of the airing cupboard in my son’s room where they’ve been breeding.

"They’ve been coming out the microwave, on the floor, they’ve been everywhere. They’re laying loads of eggs and they’re massive.

"My son Freddie was crying because they were crawling all over his bed on the first night and he couldn’t get to sleep.

"He calls it the ‘bug house’ now and hates it."

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Bexley Council placed most of the family’s belongings in storage so Ms Ennis has struggled to maintain their normal routine.

She added: "My son is really unsettled. I haven’t been able to take him to school the last few days because of what’s been going on and he hasn’t got any of his toys."

"He has had to spend the last few nights at my nan’s one-bedroom flat.

"I’ve got kidney disease and use a catheter and so it’s particularly uncomfortable being in the car- I’m not really sleeping at all."

Ms Ennis is concerned that the most basic safety checks had not taken place in the property, as she’d been told.

A Bexley Council spokeswoman said: “The tenant was moved out of the property last week.

“We have provided the client with short-term accommodation while we search for suitable accommodation that meets the requirements of the household. Finding somewhere suitable for the household will be a priority for our Housing Services.

“We carried out an inspection of the property on 26 June and no infestation was noted at that time.”