Public transport including Paris Métro will be checked despite minister’s denial of bedbug outbreak

France will dispatch sniffer dogs to inspect trains and the Paris Métro for bedbugs after dozens of reports of infestations, the transport minister has promised, but he made clear there was no evidence of an outbreak.

Clément Beaune said there had been about 10 traveller reports about the bloodsucking pests to the Paris public transport operator, RATP, and 37 to the national rail operator, SNCF, in recent weeks. All were checked but “zero” were proved, the minister said.