THERE are rats the size of cats in this UK city and mountains of rubbish along the streets.
Residents have complained that the area “stinks” and you can’t turn a corner without tripping over heaps of waste.
SWNSRubbish is piling up in the streets of Birmingham streets as bin strikes continue[/caption]
SelwynPics‘Rats the size of cats’ have been terrorizing locals[/caption]
AlamyThe industrial action was sparked by Birmingham Council’s decision to axe certain roles[/caption]
Huge rats plaguing rubbish-riddled Birmingham amidst the bin worker’s strike are terrifying locals as the industrial action, which started early this year, continues.
The clash between waste collector’s union Unite and Birmingham City Council over the scrapping of a “safety-critical role” and pay cuts has led to indefinite strikes.
Overflowing bins have caused utter carnage, with chaos set to “worsen”, taxi drivers are warning.
As residents, workers and shoppers desperately try to avoid the vermin-hit streets, cabbie Abid Hussain said: “The garbage is piling up, the vermin are coming out. It is disgusting!
“The city is filthy, it stinks. It is a health issue and the situation will only get worse.”
The driver of 32 years slammed authorities for allowing Britain’s second biggest city to “go to the rats.”
Abid, speaking exclusively to The Sun, sighed: “It should never have come to this. People are terrified to come out.
“No one wants to see rats scurrying around all the un-emptied bins and the rubbish dumped in streets, alleyways and gardens.
“It is a terrible advert for the city where I have worked for more than three decades. I am a barometer for Birmingham and this is the worst it gets.”
Abid spoke out as the cash-strapped Labour City Council is battling with bin workers to end their series of strikes over a pay dispute and conditions.
Rodents likened to be “the size of cats” have been sighted by residents scurrying around vast piles of garbage that have built up since the start of the year.
Nearly 400 bin workers in the busy West Midlands city have been striking intermittently since January in the escalating row between bin collectors and the council.
As they began an all-out strike on Tuesday morning, our team visited to see how people were coping with the knock-on rat epidemic.
Abid said: “I’ve seen rats running around, they’re horrible, dirty creatures and they carry a health risk so no one living or visiting here wants to see them.
“It’s off putting and bad for business.
“I get that the bin men are genuinely seeking a change to their conditions and better pay and I welcome them doing that.
“But on the downside we are left with a rat-infested city because being bins are overflowing and not being emptied and it is causing a domino effect.
“It’s not nice. Streets should be kept clean and roads swept.
“The city is going downhill, rapidly. The council is not what it used to be, there are all sorts of issues and, I believe, there should be some more funding from central government.”
The cabbie urged: “Get the bin men back on the street and we can all lead a better life.”
Roland LeonTaxi driver Abid Hussain warned that ‘people are terrified’[/caption]
AlamyResidents claim they can smell the stench while walking down the street[/caption]
Roland LeonSteven Owen, 40, has slept rough for three years and said he’s seen ‘all sorts’[/caption]
Steven Owens, who is homeless, and living in hostels in the city centre, said: “I’m on the streets and I’ve seen rats the size of cats. It’s quite scary.”
The jobless IT analyst, 40, said: “They scurry around everywhere with all the dumped rubbish, the rats are running riot.
“It’s easy to blame the bin workers, they’re helping people by emptying their trash but the public should be helping too by putting their litter away.”
Steven reckons the plague of rats is alarming for locals, saying: “It must be terrifying for them. Over the past three years, I’ve been sleeping on the streets so I see all sorts, including a few rats.
“I’ve got a hostel for a few nights at a time, it is grim but it is better than sleeping on the ground in a rat-infested city.”
Anthony Evans, a support worker for addiction sufferers, said: “I’ve seen rats, they’re not nice creatures and make your skin crawl.
“They scurry around the bins, which are full to brimming, and it’s not a very good image for the city which is already struggling with a bankrupt council.”
Anthony, 43, said: “I do have support for the bin men and they are right to strike but the council needs to find a solution quickly.
“You see them roaming around the overflowing bins which makes the place look untidy, plus they are unhealthy.
“They freak people out and the problem will only escalate.”
Street cleaner Peter Charalambous told how he has recently encountered rats as he goes about his daily work.
He said: “I’ve seen lots of rats, and they are quite big like cats, and grey coloured.
“It’s usually about 5am when I’m out working in the Colmore Road vicinity.
“One time a rat got trapped in the street cleaning equipment, and that was horrible, and I had to physically get the dead body out.”
Peter is a former Birmingham City Council worker who left that post because he was being made to work weekends which her couldn’t do for religious reasons.
He said: “So I became a cleaner for Colmore Business District, working weekdays.
“I support the bin men in their war with the council, and I think they deserve a better deal despite their action being a detriment to the city.”
Roland LeonStreet cleaner Peter Charalambous has to pull dead rats from his equipment[/caption]
SelwynPicsVermin the size of ‘small cats’ were seen scurrying around the streets[/caption]
Roland LeonLiane firmly sides with the bin men and thinks the council is ‘absolutely wrong’[/caption]
IT worker Liane told how rats plaguing the city frightened her as she has experienced the unwelcome pest at her home in the city.
Speaking to The Sun in the sanctuary of a cafe she said: “The rats are so nearby, it is scary!”
The digital transformation consultant, who asked not to be fully named, believes the council is “absolutely wrong for trying to make pay just to frontline workers who do a good job.”
She added: “I’m on the side of the bin men.”
American Liane, who has lived in Birmingham since coming to the UK in 1967, said her encounter with vermin at her home in Birmingham was ‘alarming’ and ‘horrifying.
She told how heavy flooding at her property had caused a broken drain which rats had crawled into.
She said: “I never saw them but could hear them scratching and squeaking under the flipper boards.
“It was so horrifying and alarming, they are a real health hazard but we finally got rid of them.”
Liane fears the rat situation “will get worse the longer the strike goes on.”
“I have a horror of rats, surely everyone else does.”
Retired metal trade worker David Fanning, 70, said: “I’ve not seen any rats personally but I know they’re out there scurrying in the rubbish that has been left piled high.
“But I can’t blame the bin men for going on strike. If their bosses are trying to cut their wages why should they stand for that?
“I support them in their fight for fair pay but the downside is our bins aren’t being emptied, and that attracts rats.”
University student Sandy Du told how plagues of rats “the size of baby cats” prowl the streets near her home, saying: “They’re horrible!”
The sociology student, 22, living in Birmingham, said: “We see them all the time near our accommodation at night, scrounging through the bins and rubbish.
“There are lots of them, they make your skin crawl, they’re a horrible sight and very off-putting.”
Sandy added: “They’re big brown ones, like the size of baby cats.
The University of Bristol student said: “It is disgusting and they pose a health risk so it is very alarming. I’m afraid of what they might be spreading.
“They hide away then come out on the prowl at night, when it’s a big quieter bit when many students are coming and going.
“Whilst I have some sympathy for the bin men, after all, they are striking for a cause and to receive better pay, I think they need to re-negotiate with the council and try to reach a resolution as soon as possible.”
Cab driver Tarick, who declined to be fully named, said: “I see rats all the time, great big ones, and there will be more around because of the strike.
“It is filthy here in the city now, but what is the council doing about the problem? Absolutely nothing.
“No one is doing their job properly now, the local authority is failing us, the bin men are failing us.”
The Sun has reached out to Birmingham City Council for a comment.
AlamyWaste collectors have vowed to extend strike action indefinitely[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
