Miserable residents have slammed an environment watchdog after being plagued by swarms of flies.

People living in Shawhead say thousands of flies have tormented them for nearly two weeks and they are now desperate for help.

Schools, a nursery, businesses and homes have all been invaded by the pests which are believed to be coming from nearby firm GBS Recycling Limited.

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Inspectors from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) have warned the firm to clean up their act and get rid of the flies but locals say urgent action is needed as the problem is persisting.

They have been forced to eat at relatives houses, sleep with gloves, hats and socks on and constantly spray their homes with fly spray in a bid to get rid of the insects.

Teachers and assistants at Shawhead primary school are being forced to spend lessons swatting flies as they are unable to spray fly spray around the children.

All the newsagents and supermarkets in the area have sold out of fly spray, as residents rush to stock up on the pest killer.

Pensioner Jean Hill said: "It's absolutely ridiculous, a down and out disgrace. The people of Shawhead have had to put up with this for almost two weeks.

"They are passing the buck. You phone SEPA, they say to phone the council and the council say they want £45 to come out and fumigate it. We need some help urgently.

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" I put a duvet cover outside and when I brought it in there was flies sticking to it.

"You can't open your windows as they all come in."

Another resident Gemma O'Hagan said she was killing more than 60 flies a day and her kids couldn't have their tea for flies swarming round them.

A worker at Shawhead primary school said: "It has been a nightmare and all we can do is chase and swat them.

"[It is] very off putting when the kids are trying to concentrate on lessons."

Parents say their kids have had flies crawling across their faces and in their ears as they sleep and are worried about diseases spreading.

Mum of one Emma Dolan said she was "sick of feeling like my skin is constantly crawling" and demanded SEPA help locals to eradicate the problem.

She has had to cover her baby daughter Aria's bed with netting at night to stop the insects crawling all over her.

She said: "We've had to fork out cash in order to try and help the situation.

"It's that bad, that Shawhead shops, and shops in the surrounding area have literally ran out of fly spray, ASDA nor Tesco have any either.

"My mum had to buy fly paper from Amazon so we had some kind of way of catching them. I want to say that it's making a difference, but it's not to be totally honest. I'm so fed up."

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A spokesman from SEPA said: " Local residents have been encouraged to call SEPA’s Pollution Hotline in order to help our officers understand the severity and extent to which flies have affected households close to the recycling centre.

"While the responsibility to clear waste from the site sits with the operator, SEPA can use enforcement action as necessary to ensure this work is completed as quickly as possible.

"An enforcement notice has been issued today which requires the operator to remove all waste by Friday, 30 September and adequately treat the facility with pest control to reduce the presence of flies on site.”

North Lanarkshire said it was unable to comment on the issue as it was being handled by SEPA.

GBS Recycling Ltd failed to respond to our request for comment.