Vermin Explosion Blamed On Full Bins

Rat catchers have warned of an "explosion" in vermin on the Capital's streets after a month of disruption to the city's bin collections.

Some pest control firms have reported a five-fold increase in the number of jobs in the city centre after bins went unemptied because icy roads and pavements made it too dangerous for the bin men to carry out collections.

There was a further warning that rats may be forced indoors in the search of food as more and more of the bin backlog is collected from the streets.

Andrew Burns, manager of Edinburgh-based Total Pest Solutions, said his firm currently had between 15 and 20 jobs on in the city centre, compared with the usual two or three. He said: "We've done more jobs this winter than any winter ever before.

"I think you can look squarely in the direction of the bin men for this. If rats get established and find a food source they can get quite deep-seated and go for a long time without being detected."

He said with the collections getting back to normal, more and more rats were moving into people's homes out of "desperation" to find food.

Irene Paterson, 67, of Howe Park, Swanston, said: "I have got mice in my garage now and the smell of the bins has been unbelievable. I called the council five or six times and they had nothing to say."

Councillor Robert Aldridge, environment leader, said: "While there has been a slight increase in the number of calls to the pest control service, the majority of these have turned out to be unfounded. There is no evidence to suggest an increase in the rat population."

Article provided by Total Pest Solutions Ltd