Published: 2013 June 11 14:28:16 (5157 Views)

A rat has left a couple in south London terrified of using their own bathroom.

The rat has apparently taken residence in the toilet of the home where Margaret, 59, and Keith Woods, 67, have lived for the last 27 years.

A horrifying video filmed by the couple, from Sutton, shows the rat – which they have nicknamed Roland – poking its head into the toilet bowl from the U-bend.

'I went to the loo and I could hear scratching. I jumped up and thought – this time I'm going to watch. I flushed the toilet straight away and went back, leaving the light on,' Mrs Woods told the Sutton Guardian.

'It was rearing its ugly head.'

The couple has now resorted to repeatedly flushing the toilet and running the taps for several minutes before using the bathroom.


Responding to reports Thames Water had been slow to respond to an initial complaint, a company spokesperson said: 'A CCTV investigation of the sewer was done last week and the network is working as it should.

'We have also carried out a thorough clean of the sewer pipes around the property and will putting down some poison to help the customer get rid of the problem.'

David Cross, head of technical training at Rentokil, commented: 'Thankfully, this is still a very rare occurrence, but we have seen more of these cases in recent years.

'Rats are an ingenious species, and they will do anything within their power to access new sources of food. After navigating a U-bend for the first time, the rodents become more confident and will often make repeat visits to the same property.

'Use of one-way valves in the manhole chamber can provide (amongst other things) an additional barrier for rats by denying them access to the soil pipe.'

- Metro

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