An Aberdeen woman has blasted the council, claiming rats on a residential street is the local authority’s fault.
Wendy Steven, 44, says she is “petrified” for her 45-year-old disabled partner Mark Haile, his two Chihuahua dogs and the elderly residents who live in the city’s Ruthrieston Circle.
Miss Steven, who lives in Mastrick, says the rats are as a result of striking bin workers and the sheer volume of rubbish on the street.
She said: “You never saw any rats or anything round here until the other day. It was Sunday a rat appeared in front of the car and I was quite shocked, very shocked and I thought ‘oh my god’.”
Despite calling the council to explain the situation, Miss Steven said the response from various people she spoke to at the authority was “not very helpful”.
She described her treatment by the local authority as “rude” and “obnoxious”.
She said the council now won’t take her calls, and staff put the phone down on her when she calls to complain.
Council priorities
Miss Steven said the authority needs to get its priorities right, saying: “It’s awful funny how they can clean up Union Street bins for the Tour of Britain, but they can’t do the residential areas.”
Aberdeen has been affected by the bin strikes, with refuse workers striking between August 24 and 31.
If there is no pay agreement between Cosla and the Scottish Government, more strikes will take place in the city between September 6 and 13.
‘They’ve got heaps of other council workers’
However, Miss Steven, who does not work, believes there is no excuse for the mess in the Ruthrieston area.
She said: “They’ve got heaps of other council workers, take some of them off the jobs and put them onto the lorries.”
During her conversation with Aberdeen City Council’s environmental health team, she claims they told her that they could do nothing about it due to strike action and said they were “passing the buck back and forth”.
Despite council recycling centres remaining open for people to take rubbish, Miss Steven says: “Why do we pay council tax, that’s what I want to know? A lot of people can’t drive and take the rubbish to the skip.”
Rats getting into homes
As well as seeing the rats in a residential street, she also saw them in a car park in Bridge of Dee, leading her to worry that they will get into older people’s homes in the area.
Discussing her concerns for the area’s dogs, Miss Steven said: “A lot of people round here have got pet dogs, for a lot of them that’s their children.
“Now, if that rat comes running out and bites one of them, what’s going to happen, is the council going to take responsibility?”
A spokeswoman for Aberdeen City Council said: “Pest control are not currently aware of any issues with rats in this location. Should anyone have concerns regarding rats within their area they should contact Aberdeen City Council pest control who will investigate and take appropriate action.”
Conversation