THIS is the moment that a gigantic rat forced a group of Birmingham binmen to run for their lives.
The East Midlands city is in the which residents have compared to the Winter of Discontent.
CCTV footage captured the moment that the rats jumped out from one of the on the floor.
Caught off guard, one of the binmen jumped into the air as the rat scurried around his feet.
One by one, the binmen started running away as the giant rodent began to circle.
The entire mound of rubbish was quickly abandoned after the waste collectors rounded the corner and escaped.
In escaping the rat, the binmen had also run away from the garbage truck which they were using to clean up the bin bags.
Joined by another , the rat eventually scurried into the rancid pile of trash and vanished.
Birmingham has been battling soaring numbers of the creepy crawlies who are living in .
Dubbed the Squeaky Blinders in a cheeky reference to the gang who inspired the BBC drama, the rats have become an all too familiar sight.
On Monday, a after the bin strike in the area reached its 25th day.
There is now an on the streets of Birmingham after the council suggested that the striking binmen were preventing waste trucks from leaving the depot.
The strike kicked off after the Unite union said its members were facing pay cuts of £8000 per year.
However, City Council have disputed Unite’s claims and have insisted that their plans to restructure the bin collection service are essential for getting the authority on a stable financial footing.
The Council were slapped with a £790 million bill in September 2023, which came after they overspent by £80 million on an IT project.
Effectively declared bankrupt, Birmingham City Council was forced to find a way to save money.
The government has weighed in on the issue and demanded that Unite start negotiations with Birmingham City Council.
A spokesman said: “The residents of Birmingham are our first and foremost priority, and as you will have seen, the local government minister Jim McMahon was in Birmingham yesterday meeting council leaders and commissioners to discuss the council's response and make sure this is being gripped.
“Following that meeting, police have installed barriers at the picket line to prevent waste lorries being recklessly blocked from leaving the depots this morning to start dealing with the backlog.
“Unite need to focus on negotiating in good faith, drop their opposition to changes needed to resolve long-standing equal pay issues, and get round the table with the council to bring this strike to an end.”;
Birmingham has also been rocked by a wave of shop closures, with popular shopping centre .
An inspection found that the centre had an , forcing every business there to close.
B&M announced that they had been , as developers said the closure of the shopping centre would go on “indefinitely”;.
