Giant rats gorging on the mountains of rubbish flowing through the streets are plaguing Birmingham as bin workers’ take to the picket lines.
Rodents said to be ‘the size of cats’ have been sighted by horrified residents scurrying around vast piles of garbage that have built up since the start of the year.
Almost 400 bin workers in the second city have been striking intermittently since January in an escalating row over the scrapping of some roles.
As they began an all-out strike on Tuesday morning, MailOnline visited to see how bad the rat problem was – and uncovered one more than a foot long.
The huge rodent had been dead for a few days and was spotted lying near a discarded mop and bucket behind a row of shops in the Sparkbrook neighbourhood.
As we held up the rodent with a litter picker to measure it, a local walked past and said: ‘Trust me, that’s not a big one. We get them much bigger!
‘Some are the size of the stray cats and we call them the Squeaky Blinders because they have Birmingham in their grip at the moment…
‘There are so many now. Too many. But they’re attracted by all of the rubbish that has built up over the last few months.
A dead rodent which is believed to be more than a foot long was found by a MailOnline reporter on their visit to rat-infested Birmingham
Huge rats rummaging in the bins on the streets of Birmingham – a city overrun with vermin
Mountains of rubbish in Sparkhill, Birmingham as bin workers head to the picket lines amid clashes over pay with the city council
‘There’s food packaging and waste everywhere. It’s like a buffet for them. We don’t see many in the day but at night the streets are crawling with them.’
Half an hour after stumbling upon the dead rat, we caught sight of a similarly sized one – very much alive – that had poked up from a mound of litter that had built up around wheelie bins full of discarded meat from a local butcher.
However, the creature quickly disappeared from view down an alleyway by the side of a row of terraced houses as we carefully approached.
For rat-catcher William Timms, 47, owner of WJ Pest Solutions in Birmingham it is an increasingly common sight.
He told MailOnline rats in the city are getting bigger because they are feasting more on human food, which is high in protein, as uncollected bin bags remain on street corners.
Mr Timms said: ‘We’ve had something like a 75 per cent increase in callouts over these last few months as rubbish sacks have started spilling out of bins and getting torn open by rodents.
‘I can’t see the problem getting any better either now that the bin men have started all out strike action.
‘Birmingham – like any big city – has always had rats but now we’re seeing them in front gardens, back gardens, sheds, in houses hidden inside lofts and kitchens because of the strike.
The dead rat was found in a disused mop behind a street of shops in Sparkbrook, Birmingham
A dead rodent pictured on a street in the second city as the mountains of rubbish continue to pile high
The mounds of waste continue to grow with pesky rodents gorging to -reportedly – the size of small cats as they chow down on human food
Former university student Chanel Welton (pictured) also recalls seeing ‘huge rats swarming the streets’ during her time living in the West Midlands city
‘Rats grow larger depending on what they eat. Human food is full of protein so they are growing larger than expected.
‘They give birth very fast too. Females are Sexually mature from two months old and give birth between 21 and 23 days to as many as 11 pups.
‘Lots of areas around Birmingham have been impacted, I was in Handsworth this morning and there were numerous bin bags ripped open and evidence of rat droppings.
‘Nobody knows when this is going to end and I do feel sorry for anyone affected. It is good for business but of course this needs to end soon.’
To make matters worse cash-strapped Birmingham City Council which was declared effectively bankrupt in 2023, want to increase the ‘rat tax’ – the charging for pest control – a service which was previously free.
Outraged locals now have to pay £24 per per call out but the council plans to hike prices once again to £26.40.
Rebel councillor Sam Forsyth has slammed the Labour-run council, telling BirminghamLive she had ‘no choice’ but to vote against their budget proposals as increased ‘rat tax’ would hit the city’s poorest the hardest.
University student Sandy Du gave insight on how the horrors of living alongside the rodents ‘the size of baby cats’, that have taken over her local streets.
‘It’s very annoying and my dad is having to do lots of trips to the tip, which as council tax payers we shouldn’t have to be doing ourselves.’ Ellie Newson (pictured) said
Residents of the Midlands city have said ongoing bin strikes, an increase in fly-tipping and HS2 building work has sparked an invasion of pesky rats
Mounds of rubbish, cardboard littered across a back street in Birmingham
The sociology student, 22, said: ‘They’re horrible!’ We see them all the time near our accommodation at night, scrounging through the bins and rubbish.
‘There’s lots of them, they make your skin crawl, they’re a horrible sight and very off putting.’
Sandy added: ‘They’re big brown ones, like the size of baby cats. They’re always around the bin area and the situation will only get worse with the rubbish men on strike.
‘Bins are left full to brimming and overflowing and when they’re being left and not being emptied it attracts even more vermin.’
Branding the pests as ‘disgusting’, she pointed out how the rodents pose an ‘alarming’ health risk to residents, adding: ‘I’m afraid if what they might be spreading.
‘They hide away then come out on the prowl at night, when it’s a big quieter bit when many students are coming and going.’
Sandy said that whilst she sympathised with the bin men striking for better pay, she urged them to ‘re-negotiate with the council and try to reach a resolution as soon as possible.’
Former university student Chanel Welton also recalls seeing ‘huge rats swarming the streets’ during her time living in the West Midlands city.
‘It’s not what you want to see at any time of the day or night,’ she said: ‘It’s very off putting for anyone going into the city centre.’
As part of more painful budget plans, the cash-strapped council which was declared effectively bankrupt in 2023, want to increase ‘rat tax’
There is currently a £24 charge for the council’s pest control service however there is a review to hike the fee up to £26.40
The 16-year-old, who runs a social media agency, told MailOnline: ‘They were huge rats and quite scary to see. They were mainly around New Street which is always a busy area.’
Chanel, who was visiting a client in the second city, added: ‘I heard about the bin strike here and piles of rubbish causing an even bigger rat infestation.
‘I’m from the countryside originally, and grown up seeing wildlife and bird life so it was a shock living in a city and seeing rats on the streets.
‘I can only imagine the situation will be getting worse with no rubbish collections. ‘
Barista Ellie Newson, working at Medicine Bakery in the Mail Box, told how her parents were ‘moaning about the bin men being on strike’.
She said: ‘They’re collecting the household waste but not the recyclables where we live in Sutton Coldfield.
‘It’s very annoying and my dad is having to do lots of trips to the tip, which as council tax payers we shouldn’t have to be doing ourselves.’
Ellie, 22, who works in the heart of the city, said while she had been ‘lucky enough not to see any rats’ she was aware of the huge problem.
Kim Blakeman said she has seen rats the size of small cats running around her neighbourhood
Louise Baker, 43, a mechanic who runs Womanic in nearby Tyseley, has seen an increase in car problems caused by rats
Several mountains of black bin bags piling up near a bus stop in Birmingham as rats run riot around the city
Rows of bin bags sit on the streets of the West Midlands city as residents raise their concerns about their growing rat issue
She said: ‘No one wants to see a rat. We see foxes where we are, some dead, but they’re better any day than rats!’
Ellie, who grew up in Edgbaston, and is desperately looking for an environmental job post university said the strike was ‘creating more problems.’
‘It is a shame it has come to this,’ she said: ‘We understand why they are doing it, but striking doesn’t always solve the issues and sometimes make them worse.
‘In this case it is stinking rubbish being left in streets bringing out more rats than ever.’
Cab driver Tarick, who declined to be fully named, said: ‘I see rats all the time, great big ones, and there will be more around because of the strike. It is filthy here in the city now.’
‘But what is the council doing about the problem? Absolutely nothing.
‘No one is doing their job proper now, the local authority is failing us, the bin men are failing us.’
In Drews Lane in Washwood Heath, two miles east of the city centre, huge rats have been taking advantage of construction work on the HS2 rail project.
Resident Kim Blakeman said: ‘The rats are like small cats and their tails are really chunky.
An overflowing bin in Selly Oak as bin workers to continue their strikes in the second city
Locals in Labour-run Birmingham say they are being plagued by the rodents more than ever due to an ongoing bin strikes, an increase in fly-tipping and HS2 building work
Waste is piling up on street corners in much of the city, attracting flies and vermin to previously clean areas
Locals have also said that fly-tipping has increased since the bins trikes began, which is making the problem worse
‘They are in and out of our recycling bins, and since HS2 has started across the road we’ve had more of an influx.
‘The council don’t bother litter picking our road anymore. People fly-tip, it’s a perfect nesting site and the rats come and feed in our bins.’
Ms Blakeman said she and her neighbours had been forced to take their rubbish to the tip last week as the binmen would not touch it.
She continued: ‘The litter from HS2 is blowing over the road into our gardens. They are moving so much dirt and it should be dampened down but it’s not. I refuse to clean my windows now because they keep getting dirty.
‘You can see rats jumping out of cars. I opened my bonnet last week and found a load of rat droppings inside.’
More than 4,000 desperate residents in the neighbourhoods of Sparkhill, Aston, Balsall Heath and Selly Park, signed an online petition calling the Labour-run city council to resolve the dispute after being overrun by rats feasting off rubbish and rotting food.
Tariq Mohammed, 70, who lives in Sparkhill, said: ‘Rubbish is always here. I have not seen any rubbish being collected for months and people just come and throw their rubbish on the street.
‘The smell is so bad and the rats are everywhere but what can we do.
‘No one is listening to us, the councillors are just sitting in their office doing nothing.
‘No one is doing a proper job and it is the people like us who live here who are suffering.’
Another resident affected by the rodents, Hawida Osman, 51, added: ‘It’s terrible. I have seen rats coming into my house from here.
‘The area is already dirty and the piles of uncollected rubbish is just making the situation worse.
‘There are already piles of rubbish everywhere but soon it will be like a mountain unless the council does something.’
Nearly 1.2 million people are likely to be affected by the strike action – which could roll into the summer.
Some 90 crews staffed by agency workers are due to start going out on collection rounds rather than the usual 200 and residents have been urged to leave rubbish out as usual but warned that it may take longer for it to be collected.
On Tuesday morning, the day the binmen walked out, West Midlands Police were called to Atlas Depot in Tyseley in Birmingham to escort agency staff drafted in by the council.
Rats are chewing through car wires, leaving families stranded and facing hefty repair bills
Rat droppings left behind by nesting creatures under a car bonnet in Birmingham
A nearby HS2 site is also being blamed by local residents for waste build-up in the area
Refuse workers on the picket line had apparently attempted to stop them from leaving the depot.
Craig Cooper, the strategic director of city operations at the council, told BBC Radio WM that the authority was ‘looking for this to stop as quickly as possible but the trade unions don’t seem to want to negotiate.’
He added: ‘I feel that they are holding us and our residents hostage.
‘I understand the frustration of residents and we recognise we need to create a modern, sustainable and reliable service.
‘The service had not acted effectively for a very long time.’
Unite said the industrial action was triggered by the council’s decision to remove the role of waste recycling and collection officers, responsible for safety at the back of a refuse collection lorry, from its fleets.
The trade union claims this is a ‘safety-critical role’ and will lead to affected workers losing £8,000 in their salary, as well as cutting off a ‘fair path for pay progression’.
Unite regional officer Zoe Mayou said: ‘This dispute will not end until our members are given cast iron guarantees about where the service is headed and how they will be treated within it.
‘We want to meet with Birmingham city council and have productive talks.
One frightened shopper saw a mouse dart across a Primark in the rodent-ridden capital city
Elsewhere at Birmingham International Station, one commuter joked that they had spotted ‘Ratatouille’ ‘off shift
‘They know what we want. They are the ones holding the city to ransom – certainly not us.’
Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, added: ‘The disgraceful use of unlawful labour to try and break the strike has just resulted in industrial action escalating.
‘The only way this dispute will end is by halting the brutal and unnecessary attacks on our members’ pay.’
Birmingham City Council 2023 – which is being overseen by government commissioners with plans to cut hundreds of jobs and sell off assets to help balance the books – say 170 staff members were affected by their decision to remove waste recycling and collection officers.
The authority said about 130 of these had accepted roles in other parts of the council on the same pay grade, while others have opted to train for more advanced roles.
Only 17 staff members – the council argued – could lose the maximum amount from their salary, which it says is £6,000, not £8,000.
