• Shop worker says 'sky was turned black' by the invasion of bees
• Store was shut for two hours while a beekeeper was called to tackle swarm

By Rob Cooper

PUBLISHED: 15:54 GMT, 28 June 2012 | UPDATED: 19:50 GMT, 28 June 2012

This is the dramatic moment a swarm of 3,000 bees descended on a florists as workers hid inside.

The shop was forced to close for more than two hours in Hereford city centre while a beekeeper was called.

The invasion of the buzzing insects also caused chaos for shoppers as they swarmed around the store front last Sunday afternoon.

A shop worker at Sarah Jane's Joy of Flowers said today: 'It was pretty scary, one minute the sky was blue and it was sunny outside, the next the front of the shop was covered in a black swarming cloud of bees.

 

'They must have been attracted by the pollen in the flowers we had in a few pots outside.

'Other shoppers had to run across the street to avoid them, luckily I don't think anyone was stung and a beekeeper arrived after a couple of hours and removed the swarm in a box.'

Shopper Jane Thomas, 31, was walking along with her young daughter when she spotted the bees.

She said: 'I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it, I got us straight over the other side of the street when I realised what was in front of us.

'I suppose it makes sense that they'd head for a florist but you don't expect to see a big swarm of them in the middle of a high street.'

The bees swarmed into the town centre after being released from a hive at a nearby museum.

Amateur beekeeper Hazel Highfield collected the bees and handed them over to the Herefordshire Beekeeper's Association.

She said: 'They would only have been interested in finding a new home, when they are like that the bees are very placid.

'They feed up on honey before they leave the hive.'

Workers at Thorntons chocolate shop in nearby Leominster were forced to cower inside for two-and-a-half hours after 2,000 bees built a nest in the doorway last July.

Terrorism kills fewer people in the UK than bees and wasps, according to a report by the government's terrorism watchdog.

An annual report by the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation acknowledged the threat from Al Qaeda and its affiliates as a genuine one, but it said the menace of terror had lessened in recent years and should not be' overstated' .

David Anderson QC said that there had not been a single injury in the UK by a terrorist since the stabbing of a Labour MP two years ago.

Neither had there been any bombings linked to Islamic extremists in Europe last year.

Arrests connected to alleged terror plots were at a record low since the 9/11 attacks, with 121 out of a total of 1.4 million arrests in the most recent year.

In a section of the report that considers if the risk for terrorism is overstated Mr Anderson writes: 'During the 21st century, terrorism has been an insignificant cause of mortality in the United Kingdom.

'The annualised averge of five deaths caused by terrorism in England and wales over this peiod compares with total accidental deaths in 2010 of 17,201.

'This included 123 cyclist killed in traffic accidents, 102 personnnel killed in Afghmistan, 29 people drowned in the bath tub and five people killed by hornets wasps and bees.'