LYING on the ground behind a massive air rifle, a rat catcher prepares to take out the rodents plaguing Birmingham homes.
The West Midlands city has become that have piled up in recent weeks due to – which have given the disease-riddled pests a feast to bask in.
Residents have complained of the city looking like a “war zone” and have called it a “third world country” due to the .
is overrun with that there will likely be a huge surge in rat-borne diseases due to the walkouts.
Land, air and water are at risk of contamination from the rodents that have swarmed the city and ventured into homes.
Young children, the elderly and those who are disabled or immuno-compromised are more at risk – especially those living in more deprived areas.
Rats crawl into cars and nest inside while nibbling on the wires, scurry through holes and vents into homes and get their dirty paws all over the surfaces.
They were attracted by the bin bags piled as high as trucks, filled with nappies and food waste.
And the rodent problem caused by the strike – now in its seventh week – will only get worse before it gets better.
But when The Sun visited to spend a day with William Timms, owner of WJ Pest Solutions, we struggled to find a sufficiently dramatic pile of bin bags swarmed with rats.
Baffled, the 47-year-old told us that there were just two days ago.
And since the – who is clearing up the streets?
While it is no doubt a relief for the locals that 26,000 tonnes of rubbish have been speedily removed, it begs the question as to why this couldn't have been done weeks ago.
William believes the council has splashed out to bring in agency workers – seemingly prioritising the posher areas first.
During the strike, his phone has been constantly ringing – even in the middle of the night. Since March, he's only had three days off and he says he is “absolutely shattered”.
Locals have even nominated him for the “unsung hero” category in the National Pest Awards for rescuing them from the relentless rodents. They fondly call him “RatMan” and one even sang the Batman theme tune to the moniker.
William said he often prioritises jobs where the person is clearly terrified and suffers from a rat phobia.
He says: “I've had 6ft tattooed men on the phone in tears because a rat was on their bed.”
William drives a work van with the number plate WJ02 RAT and is armed with a .22 air rifle and a pistol, equipped for any occasion – including rats as big as 22 inches.
The next rat problem is in motion. In summer, it will be far worse
William
But the army veteran said he has to call the police any time he takes out the rifle to avoid being “pinned to the ground”.
William also bought a Jack Russell – Ziggy – to help him with ratting, but he said affectionately “he’s soft as hell” and now belongs to his son.
Driving around the city, he pointed at corner after corner which just a few days ago were
Now there are only the remnants of.
People have already started leaving more bin bags on the corner, all of which have holes where rats have clearly bitten out a chunk.
However William said this is the “calm before the storm” in the city.
He said: “We will see the problem get worse before it gets better.
“I expect to be busy for the next four months. In summer it will be far worse.
“We had the heatwave the other week and it was awful, there were maggots and the smell was so bad it made me gag.”
He has a full-face respirator mask for his work in the summer because the stench is so unbearable.
“They will just go further, they will go a few miles away to look for another source of food. They'll go into the hedges, people's gardens, their sheds.
“The next rat problem is in motion.”
He said there will be “so many maggots and flies, bluebottles everywhere” once the weather warms up.
The rubbish
The Sun tagged along with William for one job, and when we got there he threw his hands up in exasperation that the trap he laid earlier had vanished.
“Stolen! Again.” Before the bin strike, he never had to worry about this – now they're stolen every week.
“We have people stealing my traps. The poison is far stronger than what you get in shops – most rat traps aren’t very effective, you need to look at the ingredients.”
He said locals are so desperate they're buying anything and everything to try and tackle the problem themselves, and this can be incredibly dangerous.
“You could kill your family cat – you could kill your whole family.
“They don’t know what they’re doing. It's absolutely ridiculous.”
William said he had one client who spent £300 on ultrasound plug-ins and she called him over and said they weren’t doing anything.
“I said I’ve never used them. I walked in and there was a rat sitting on one.”
Big companies charge £400-500 for pest control, but independent companies like William charge £200-£300 depending on mileage – and this covers three visits.
But many people can't afford this, and they are often those who live in more deprived areas which were cleaned up slower.
Driving past a small pile of fly-tipped furniture, William said it is “absolutely atrocious” and called those who see a mess and just pile on their own rubbish “lazy muppets”.
They must have brought in an agency. How can the council afford agency but not the pay for the workers?
In January, 350 workers in the Unite union began a series of walkouts, but it wasn't until March that the real chaos began.
The all-out strike led to Labour-run Birmingham City Council declaring a major incident, and in as the piles of rubbish attracted
The strike is now in its seventh week, but the streets are noticeably cleaner. There are still mounds of bin bags, but it no longer looks like a scene from some apocalyptic movie.
William said: “It don’t know who is clearing it – the bin trucks are half the size than the usual ones.
“They must have brought in an agency. How can the council afford agency but not the pay for the workers?”
The rising tide of waste has been kept back in part by volunteers such as the Faizan Global Relief Foundation, which usually supports those affected by global natural disasters.
They have been working through the night to help clear the rubbish.
Birmingham is being held hostage by industrial action stemming from the removal of a waste recycling and collection officer job role.
Although these workers have been offered other jobs,
The introduction of cameras on means that only three workers are required instead of four.
William said: “What is this all about? The union just wants to flex their power. All of this could have been avoided. The workers have been offered other jobs!”
At the height of the strike, he said there were piles of rubbish as high as his truck, – even nesting in people's cars.
“They get in and nest in cars and chew the wires. People have to call in an electrician and that's when they realise.”
William has been so busy that he was forced to cancel a family holiday over Easter, but he plans to take a holiday once all of the havoc has calmed down.
So if one good thing has come from the Birmingham bin strike, its that locals have a newfound appreciation of pest controllers.
