SPLUTTERING from the stench, dad-of-two Rashid Mahmood struggles to get out of his front door – thanks to the 6ft pile of waste that’s been dumped outside it.
With in about to hit the one-month mark, conditions in the city are reaching vile new depths — with “mountain-like”; rubbish stacks, “”; and fly-tipping en masse.
More than and a major incident has been declared as the city’s council battleswith militant over plannedpay cuts.
With chaos now unfolding on the streets, the -run local authority is desperate to make savings, having been declared effectively bankrupt in September 2023.
But Unite is doubling down — and , its national officer for local government, sees “massive potential”; for similar unrest “up and down the country”;.
Locals in Birmingham’s most deprived areas , including delivery driver Rashid, 35.
He is barely able to leave his home due to giant piles of rotting , decomposing nappies, hundreds of dirty food trays, ten-litre vats of cooking oil, greasy pizza boxes and scores of rodent-gnawed bin liners.
Rashid is desperate to ditch his £850-a-month two-bed flat which he moved into just a month before the bin men walked out over pay cuts.
Between chesty coughs that have only developed since the pile-up began, he says: “It smells atrocious. I can even smell it inside my house.
“Shopkeepers, and locals throw their rubbish here all the time — it’s nearly as tall as my front door.
‘I’ve had men crying down the phone’
“Rats are everywhere — they are even in my home. I caught two last week with sticky traps but they are inside the roof too. I worry a lot because I saw one by my children.”;
It’s a horrifying sight in Alum Rock, a suburb just two-and-a-half miles outside the city centre, but one all too familiar in Birmingham, where there are swathes of black bags piled up on most streets.
With rats thriving, one fed-up local resident even dressed as a giant rodent to confront councillors at a meeting earlier this week.
Calling himself the Selly Oak rat, he mockingly praised the council for the “huge amounts of rubbish”; piled up on the streets, claiming it had helped to feed his rodent relatives.
Breaking character from his place in the public gallery, the man asked: “Given the reported 21,000 tonnes of rubbish on our streets, by what date does the council think it will have reduced the backlog, reduced the rat population and returned our streets to an acceptable state?”;
The council has declared a major incident in a bid to get extra support.
It says most should now receive one collection a week — but warns it could take days before the backlog is cleared.
As talks between bin workers and the council ended on Tuesday without an agreement, secretary has spoken of his fears.
He said: “I certainly am concerned about the public health situation and the poor conditions we’re seeing for people in Birmingham.”;
Young mum Ayesha Ahmed, 24, agrees. She says: “I’ve seen countless rats and have a very bad fear of them. Some are bigger than cats.
“There’s three rats to every one man here. It doesn’t feel like Alum Rock is part of the UK any more — we’ve been forgotten. How can anyone live here like this?”;
Poorer neighbourhoods have suffered the worst of the rubbishdeluge,while roads in wealthy Moseley and Edgbaston remain spotless.
In Alum Rock, workers in a sari shop cannot open their doors due to the stench, making it swelteringly hot inside.
I certainly am concerned about the public health situation and the poor conditions we're seeing for people in Birmingham
Health secretary Wes Streeting
Customer Shamim Bashir, 55, says: “People are chucking rubbish everywhere and now the heat is coming we’ll soon get maggots.”;
Opportunists are fly-tipping too.
Shamim says she has seen dirty mattresses, bathtubs, sofas and carpets being dumped by locals.
She says: “My nephew caught someone dumping something and the man said, ‘What’s it to you?’
“You can’t argue with people about it because of the .”;
Youngsters have reportedly set fire to heaps of rubbish, and there are also fears fraudsters could find personal information in binned old letters and documents.
No wonder some are nervous to leave the house.
Joseph Carr, 31, and Chantelle Haynes, 32, are too scared to take their children, aged six months and one, to the local park.
Chantelle says: “I’ve seen a rat chase a cat more than once — their tails are huge.
“I’m not willing to go to the park because it’s too dangerous. If a rat comes out it might bite my son.”;
Will Timms, 47, of WJ , jokes he deserves a knighthood for his services.
He is working 13-hour days, averaging 140 miles on the road and tackling ten rodent a day — more than double the norm.
I’m not willing to go to the park because it’s too dangerous. If a rat comes out it might bite my son
Chantelle Haynes
Will has killed two thousand rats in the past five weeks, and says the biggest was22inchesin length.
So far he’s shot 40, caught hundreds in snap traps and the rest died from toxic grain, including secondary poisonings where rodents eat other dead rats.
Will says: “Birmingham is like a Third World country. It’s a joke.
“I’ve had men crying down the phone. One had such a bad phobia he was screaming, ‘I need you right now!’ When I arrived, he was sitting on his car shaking.
‘It’s put us on the map for a shameful reason’
“A single mum with a seven-month-old was petrified. One night, she sterilised her baby’s bottles and the next morning she says she found rat droppings inside them.
“She rang the council and they said they would get to her in three weeks, which is just disgusting.”;
Birmingham is like a Third World country. It’s a joke
Will Timms, of WJ Pest Control
Since the strike began, Will has become an unlikely local hero and fielded media from as far away as and America.
He says: “It’s put us on the map for a shameful reason. We’re called ‘Bin-ingham’ now and ‘the UK’s biggest tip’. I’m ashamed to be a Brummie.
“It’s absolutely shocking but this could happen in any city.”;
He points us to Cheddar Road, Borsall Heath, just three miles away, where rubbish piles are 6ft high and 15ft in length.
Student resident Mohammed Ali, 22, says: “I firmly believe it’s a disaster. The bin men have got to do what they have got to do but we urgently need help.
“We’re having to dodge rats on our doorsteps. They are big too — they have been eating better than me.
“I’ve seen up to 30 on one road. There’s mice and fleas too — everything you don’t want in an area.”;
And dad-of-three Hussain Mohammed, 45, tells us his home has been invaded by rats after being lured to the area by littered food waste.
He says: “My son can’t because the rats have got into his room.
“Once, I fell asleep and felt a rat crawling over my head. I’ve heard them in the walls, too.”;
Once, I fell asleep and felt a rat crawling over my head. I’ve heard them in the walls, too.”;
Dad-of-three Hussain Mohammed
Pressure is still mounting on Birmingham City Council who say talks have been “productive”; but there are “still issues to resolve”; with striking refuse collectors.
The workers are fighting plans to remove some roles and downgrade others, with Unite claiming some of their 350 striking members could lose as much as £8,000 from their salaries while others will be out of a job.
But the council says only a small number of workers would be facing pay cuts, and it desperately needs to save after effectively declaring itself bankrupt in 2023.
While many residents are sympathetic to the binmen’s plight, they have a clear message to the council: “This chaos can’t go on.”;
As the sun sets on England’s second city, a handful of council workers with metal grabbers pick up empty cans, crisp packets and debris from the main High Street.
In a cruel irony, their toil is set to a chorus of cheerful buskers belting out ’s What A Wonderful World.
Sadly, few in Birmingham would agree to the sentiment.
