"HAVE you spied a spider?" That was the question on the lips of shoppers at a Hampshire supermarket after store bosses revealed that a tropical tarantula may be on the loose.

Frantic shelf stackers are hunting high and low for the stowaway fugitive - which is suspected to be hiding out in the banana section. So far it has proved fruitless.

Now it was time to end this web of intrigue, so the Daily Echo called in the one person who could track the pest down - Spiderman.

The superhero went to Sainsbury's in Broadcut, Fareham, after a female shopper reported a suspected spider bite while handling bananas.

She was rushed to hospital with a painful red rash and immediately put on a five-day course of antihistamines. The woman is now recovering at home.

Although she didn't spot an eight-legged villain at the scene of the crime, store workers were put on high alert that a poisonous creepy crawly may be lurking.

It is believed that the creature snuck over from warmer climes in a crate of the yellow fruit that is shipped from the Caribbean.

Our superhero investigator began by using his spider sense to delve through the bananas in a bid to track down his long lost cousin - but to no avail. Drawing on all of his powers of mental agility he went to work interviewing potential witnesses who had just finished their shopping.

Teacher Linda Morgan, 48, of The Avenue, Fareham said: "I didn't see anything scuttling around in there, although I thought I saw something looking at me from the back of the tinned soup aisle."

Spiderman paled when six-year-old Tom Barrett of Heath Lane, Fareham said: "I didn't see a spider, but I wouldn't have been scared - I'd have squashed it."

Jeweller Joe Curtis, 49, of Highlands Road said: "It's good to see Spiderman here, I feel much safer now. I had heard about the spider incident but to be honest if the staff haven't found it by now then I expect its packed its bags and quietly left."

And after also failing to find the elusive arachnid, Spiderman decided not to hang around either and sped off in his spider mobile to the next major crime.

A spokesman for Sainsbury's said they were still investigating the incident and until results of tests were known there was no evidence that there was a spider in the store.

"We take these things very seriously."

Spiderman costume courtesy Parties of Portswood Road, Southampton.