THEY thought they had seen off the invasion – but yesterday morning some city residents were horrified to find they were under siege again.

Maggots were once again blighting a Southampton block of flats after an infestation earlier this week – but it’s hoped the creepy crawlies may have finally been seen off.

As previously reported by the Daily Echo, people living in Meggeson Avenue in Townhill Park, found hundreds of the creatures crawling around their communal areas, bins and homes – with the pests even coming up through the floors.

Grandmother and foster carer Joyce Ford discovered the pests had returned when she got up yesterday morning.

The 72-year-old said: “I thought, ‘Here we go again – we’re back to square one’. It is horrifying.”

Maggots, which come from flies’ eggs, were covering the ground outside the flats, with one resident claiming it was as if the floor was moving, there were so many of them.

The city council dispatched staff on Tuesday to hose down the area with industrial hoses.

The same day residents spent more than six hours and used five bottles of bleach in an attempt to battle the creatures, only to face the problem coming back yesterday.

City council environmental health officers were busy spraying the block of flats yesterday in a bid to stamp out the infestation.

It comes after the council experts said they found the cause of the outbreak – food waste being disposed of by residents in the drains.

Mrs Joyce said this had angered residents, who denied doing so.

She said: “It’s ridiculous. Why on earth would people put food down the drain? That doesn’t make sense.”

A spokesman for Southampton City Council said the district housing manager had spoken to tenants and explained that the drains were cleared in July when food waste was found.

He confirmed that the food waste was also removed from the system yesterday while environmental health staff were also back on the scene respraying any maggots still in the area, in the hope that would be the end of the infestation.

He added: “If the problem reoccurs then residents are encouraged to contact the council directly.”