What a load of rubbish

Misery for Birmingham as bin workers' walkout sparks rat infestation

- BY ADAM ASPINALL

RESIDENTS in Birmingham are at loggerheads with striking bin workers as rubbish piles high on streets now infested with rats.

The Mirror visited one of the worst affected areas of the city yesterday and watched as rats foraged through Small Heath, near Birmingham City's St Andrew's ground.

We witnessed an average of 10 rats an hour in the highly populated urban area on the edge of the city centre and saw waste piled high on street corners.

Rubbish, picked at by animals or dumped by fly-tippers, was strewn everywhere in the rising heat.

Almost 400 council bin workers began indefinite strike action earlier this month as part of an ongoing row over jobs and pay.

Frustrated residents told The Mirror they are longing for an end to the dispute as temperatures rise. Many fear the heat will only worsen the already unhygienic conditions.

One disgruntled local was barber Jalaal, 36, who has had taken to social media to shame fly-tippers as he loses faith that anybody in power will help the locals clean up their city.