Mum:‘problem getting worse’
A Blantyre mum is “living in complete fear” and says her home and garden are infested by rats and maggots.
Kaitlin Murray, of Auchinraith Terrace in Springwell, is constantly cleaning her house and back yard to try to keep the vermin at bay – but says the problem is only getting worse.
The 21-year-old is now terrified to sleep in her own home, and at one point left with her two children to stay with her mum so she could have a rat-free break.
And she says she can’t let her 11-month-old baby girl Michaela crawl around the floor for fear she is treading in, or picking up, maggots.
Kaitlin explained: “Around late September 2017, I started noticing rats in my back garden and near my bins, which were situated at the front of my house.
“After contacting the council regarding this matter they informed me that even though at that time I had a two-year-old child and a newborn baby in the house it wasn’t a serious matter and gave me a contact number for environmental health.
“After five or six weeks of the environmental health leaving bait down, I only felt the rats were increasing and then started hearing them scratching and running around my house and loft more frequently.
“At this stage I decided to contact my local councillor who received a reply from the council on my behalf which was to keep my garden tidy, which I constantly do. It was a reply which was also of no relevance to the rat problem inside my house.
“Now it is nearly a year on and we’re still having the poison put own in my garden and loft, but environmental health have never set foot in my loft to check for nests or dead rats – and I now have maggots in my bedroom and halls.
“It’s vile. I’m constantly living in fear and cannot let my children play or crawl around the house as they should be able to.”
Kaitlin lives with son Michael (3) and baby Michaela. The young mum says she has been to South Lanarkshire Council numerous times to ask for help, but says her plea is still falling on deaf ears.
She added: “I am living in complete fear of the vermin and have had to attend my doctors because of heightened anxiety due to the pressures of this problem – yet still the council say that the house is fit for two young children, despite it being riddled with rats and maggots.
“I am a nervous wreck in my own home and have no way out as I can’t afford to just buy my own accommodation.”
A council spokesperson said details of work required have been passed to housing services and these repairs are currently being organised, adding “information received from environmental services confirms that the source of the rodent infestation reported by Ms Murray has been established, and that baiting, which will continue under the infestation has been eradicated, is ongoing.
“A site meeting involving housing and environmental services to determine any further work that may be needed will take place on Thursday, August 23.”
Kaitlin says she has maggots on her carpets and believes her loft is full of dead rats.
She has video footage of the vermin scurrying around, which you can view on the Hamilton Advertiser’s Facebook page or website.