A HAMPSHIRE woman says that rats are making her life a misery.

Rochelle Coulson says her flat in New Milton is riddled with the rodents that keep her awake at night by scratching on the walls and have even left droppings in the kitchen and have chewed on her bed.

The 21-year-old who lives in a one-bedroom flat in Barton Court Avenue is terrified of the rats and fears that other properties in the apartment block could be affected.

She says that New Forest District Council, who own the properties, has not sorted the problem, despite putting in rat poison back in January – she said the council then said the noise was due to herring gulls on the roof.

Now she is calling on them to move residents out while they sort out the problem, as she feels the rat poison is not working.

She said: “A lot of the time I hear the scratching and other people can hear it too. I have told them they need to move residents out, but they said they can’t and that rat poison will kill them off.

“Rats absolutely terrify me, it scares me when I hear scratching at 10pm and I think I do not want that in my bed when I’m asleep.”

New Forest District Council say it is dealing with the problem after reports of
the rodents.

A council spokesman said: “In order for rodent treatment to be effective, our pest control officers need to carry out regular follow up visits and take further action if it is required.”

The spokesman said that the officers experienced difficulty in accessing the affected properties regularly, but added: “We are keen to work with the residents to deal with the situation by putting in pest control measures and by advising households on storage of food and waste to ensure that the rats are not finding alternative food sources to the bait our officers put down.”

However, Rochelle says she is still experiencing rodent problems in her flat despite rat poison being laid down again by the authority in October.