Parents 'horrified' to find rat in their daughter's cot launch complaint against Portsmouth council

Bryan Ricketts and his partner Charlene Rose, from Portsmouth, said they had seen up to four rats, as well as mice, in their council flat since moving in in March this year.

The rats have chewed through electrical wires, washing machine hoses and walls in the two-bed flat in Cumberland Street, Portsea.

And recently the pair were 'shocked' to find a rat in their 11-month-old daughter Sabrina's cot in the middle of the night.

Bryan, 29, said: 'We were horrified. My partner got up in the night to go to the bathroom and put the light on. If she hadn't put the light on I don't know what would have happened.

'I grabbed the nearest thing to me - a flip flop - launched it at the rat and it ran off. My daughter started screaming. It was in her cot right by her feet. It could have been about to bite her.'

Pest control services deployed by Portsmouth City Council have paid two visits to the home to lay down rat poison.

However, doorman Bryan said this was 'not enough' and he has issued a complaint against the council.

'We've had these problems with the rats for months,' he said.

'We had an electrician come round and said it had chewed through all the wires, he said there was evidence of rats living in the attic but the environmental health officer wouldn't have a look up there.

'They put the poison down but didn't use traps and since then we've still seen rats running around.'

He added: 'The council has provided new washing machine hoses to replace the ones that were chewed through but we can't get them to work so we're going to have to buy a new machine which we can't afford.'

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However, a council spokesman said: 'Our pest control team got a report from Mr Ricketts on Friday, September 23 and we visited on September 30. Rat problems are not treated as non-urgent. However, we have to work with the resources we have and a high demand for our services.

'Unfortunately, dealing with rodents does take time and a process has to be followed.

'We put down poison on 30 September. We came back on 6 October and the poison had been eaten, showing we had targeted the problem correctly. We topped the poison up.

'Usually such cases take three visits, but we will keep going back until the problem is dealt with. This is a free service for residents of council properties.

'We use poison because it is more efficient than traps.

'If Mr Ricketts still has concerns about his washing machine, his area housing office team are available to talk to him.'

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