Rats in Birmingham running riot along 'super highway' under rubbish in their 'millions'

Locals in Birmingham have expressed their disgust after witnessing running riot along a "super highway" as the deepens. Following the ongoing bin strike in the city, there is a staggering 17,000 tonnes of waste left in the streets, forcing Birmingham City Council to declare a major incident on Monday.

It was in response to serious public health concerns following the dispute which started on March 11. Members of the Unite union went on strike in a dispute over the role of waste recycling and collection officer (WRCO) being removed. The uncollected rubbish has seen bin bags being dumped on the streets, with holes and rips causing food to fall onto the pavement.

People have complained of a horrendous smell that is lingering across the region. It has also led to a huge rat infestation, with some locals saying they have spotted rodents 'the size of cats'.

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One local told Sky News: "I've seen loads of rats here. People walk here and chuck their bags on top and I have to live next to it."

The man showed a video of agency workers, brought in by the council to clear up the mess, looking at the huge rats "scatter". He added: "These are agency workers, brought in to try and clear up. As they're tipping the wheelie bins into the lorry, look at the rats scatter!"

In the video, a family of three rats are seen scuttling under the bin bags. Workers look to see if the rodents are still nearby. "This is my place of work, I don't like looking at them, it's awful. They'll be urinating all round the yard and I keep thinking of the diseases they could pass on," the local resident added.

The bin strikes come as improves across the country, giving the rats the perfect conditions to hide and breed. Rats can have up to 200 babies when they reproduce. Furthermore, there are now fears that even if the mess is cleared, the rodents will still stay around looking for food.

Local rat catcher Joseph described how there is now a "super highway" of rodents in Birmingham. He has also been finding dead rats amongst the rubbish.

He told Sky News: "The interesting thing about that is blow flies are now attracted to that - you can have 4,000 blow flies just from one dead rat.. and over here is a drain leading to a sewer system - this is where they tend to come up from... There's a whole super highway of rats beneath us now - millions of them."