Police in Scotland rushed to help when screams were heard coming from a house only to discover he 30-year-old woman inside was screaming at a spider.

       Two police vans arrived at Hollie Hunter’s house on Monday evening in Livingston, to the west of Edinburgh, having been called by a neighbour. On appearing at the scene, they discovered that the intruder was in fact not a person, but an arachnid.

       Ms Hunter explained to Edinburgh Evening Newsthat she had come across a spider “the size of the palm of [her] hand” and was waiting for her stepfather to arrive to help her remove it.

       When she answered the door, she was shocked to see five policemen on the doorstep.

       The pensions administrator explained: “I’d just spent 40 minutes trying to get rid of a moth, to then come back into my bedroom and find a massive spider at the bottom of my bed!

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       “I’d honestly say it was the size of the palm of my hand.

       “I was launching books at it, and when it ran towards me I screamed and started running to different rooms.”

       She went on to add: “I think I was screaming and crying and making such a racket that my neighbour thought I was being attacked.

       “I looked through the peephole and five policemen were standing there.

       “I opened my door, and before they could say anything I just cried: ‘I’m so sorry there’s a spider under my bed and I’m petrified!’”

       Whilst on the doorstep, the officers asked if there was anyone else in the flat, to which Hollie replied that there was not and that it was “just [her] and the spider.”

       The officers saw the funny side and helped clear Ms Hunter’s flat of the unwanted, eight-legged intruder, “not without laughing at me” the 30-year-old confessed.

       The spider was eventually located beneath her mattress, Ms Hunter said: “While they still had my bed in the air, the spider strolled out into the hall.

       “One of the officers picked it up with his hand and took it outside with him … not without laughing at me.

       “It was crawling about his arm as he was walking out the door.”

       Posting on Facebook, Ms Hunter told friends that she had “never been so mortified”, before adding “think it’s time to seek help for my phobias.”

       A spokesman for Police Scotland told Edinburgh Evening News: “Around 10.20pm on Monday, 30 August, we received a report of a disturbance within a property in Livingston.

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       “Officers attended and the disturbance was found to have been about a spider being in the house.”

       They added: “Suitable advice and assistance was provided and the spider was located and removed.”