With reference to bed bugs in a Brighton hotel (Letters, August 17), I don't think they were bed bugs. They looked more like young cockroaches.

Three years ago I was bitten badly on my shoulders and arms by bed bugs while staying in a very nice expensive hotel in Zimbabwe.

They were the size of ladybirds, only flatter and brown. On closer examination, they were along the sides of the mattress and in the folds of the blankets. The sheets were changed every day but not the blankets or bed covers.

The bites lasted about three weeks and were quite painful and blistered.

The hotel manager wasn't all that concerned and just put us in another bedroom.

-Joy Cuthbertson-Wheeler, Rottingdean