‘They have eaten away my bin lid’ – Sheffield residents’ rat-infestation horror stories

A request made under the Freedom of Information Act revealed residents called the council’s rat catchers 9,536 times since 2015.

The worst road in the city was Deerlands Avenue, Parson Cross, where people called the authority to complain about rodents 28 times between January 2016 and February 2019.

Other hotspots included Wensley Street in Grimesthopre, Manor Oaks Road in Manor Castle, and Stubbin Lane in Firth Park, which each had 22 call-outs.

A number of Star readers have now taken to Facebook to vent their frustration at having to deal with rats.

Many said litter bugs were to blame for enticing rodents in by leaving rubbish strewn in the street.

Neil Stacey said there are “too many takeaways and people chucking rubbish everywhere.”

Mark Boulton added that it “doesn't help when people have messy gardens and dump rubbish on them because rats love to nest in it.”

Another reader said the problem is bad on Glossop Road and added: “we can’t get rid of them at work.

“If only the other businesses did something too.

“We’ve ended up purchasing extra bait boxes.”

A woman said: “I have seen the rats run around my neighbours’ garden and they have eaten away at my bin lid and ripped all the bags in the bin.”

The worst affected area as a whole was Burngreave, which had more than double the amount of calls and visits as the second worst area, Darnall. Council bosses said this was likely due to a targeted scheme to exterminate rats in Burngreave a number of years ago.

Craig Bebbington, environmental services manager at the council, said: “Our pest control service investigates and act on all incidents of rats and other nuisance pests such as mice, cockroaches when requested.”