Glasgow under siege by rats
Story by Matthew McLaughlin
Glasgow is under siege by rats as pest control service are struggle to deal with the thousands of critter calls.
It was revealed that the local authority is preparing to axe three specialist operative later this month.
A whistleblower from Glasgow City Council claimed that workers are over-stretched and left unable to attend the thousands of call-outs.
A spokesman for Glasgow City Council, said: “The most effective way to stifle the rat population on a long term basis is to cut off their sources of food.
“The current initiative to replace all of the city’s remaining 50,000 old-style steel bins will have a significant impact on the rat population.”
The steel bins are often in such bad condition that they increase the spread of waste, leading to health risks and attracting further vermin.
The council added: “We always aim to respond to calls from the public for pest control support as quickly as possible while focusing resources where intensive treatments are required.
“The additional funding for pest control was always only available for a limited period to help us address the volume of calls for pest control support.”
Locals made over 35,000 complaints in 2017 about the council’s services, the majority of which related to missing bin collections.
2017 also saw the highest report number of calls related to the mounting rodent problem since 2008.
