An exotic animal owner from Lincolnshire recently told how her new pets were put in danger due to a power failure.

Janine Stead was awaiting delivery of several baby tarantulas, which were arriving by Royal Mail, the Stamford Mercury reports.

The pet fan ordered them over the internet and they had been packaged in special heated tubes for the journey.

However, the small creatures can survive in the devices for just a short time and when Ms Stead discovered her post office's deliveries were disrupted due to power failure she panicked.

She told the publication: "The spiders are very delicate.

"If they were delivered within 24 hours, they would be fine but the delay meant they were in real danger."

Luckily, staff from Royal Mail recognised the threat posed to the spiders and began searching for them.

Eventually they were located and Ms Stead took them to her home where they are thriving.

Meanwhile, a British Airways plane was recently grounded at Edinburgh when a passenger claimed he saw a tarantula in the cabin.