Man killing rats ‘every day’ that even live inside his cereal cupboard

A father has said he is being forced to live in ‘inhumane’ conditions after his home in Scotland became overran by rats.

Craig Lawrie, from Glasgow, said he has been catching at least two rats a day for the past month, despite continuous complaints to his housing provider.

The 42-year-old said the vermin have been getting into his home through gaps in his gas pipes and behind the cupboards in the kitchen.

He said he has raised the issue to Tollcross Housing Association, his housing provider and employed environmental health interventions, but the situation remains ‘dire’.

‘I can’t keep living like this, it’s horrendous, I can’t even see my boy at my place because of the problem,’ the dad said.

‘They’re coming through the gas pipes and the back of the kitchen cabinets – I’m catching two every day, and I only have two traps to work with.’

Craig first noticed the rats earlier this year, and the problem has persisted, despite visits from workmen.

Craig, who is disabled and lives off of Universal Credit, said the housing association had sent a plumber and a joiner to help him, but as soon as they saw a rat they ‘ran out the house’.

A new joiner then assessed the flat, and concluded that to fix the infestation, they would have to remove the entire kitchen.

Despite these constant requests for help, all that has been done is ‘some foam’ spread around the cabinets, he claims – and the rats have continued to find their way in.

Craig said environmental health officers also placed additional traps in the kitchen, but he was still finding new rats daily.

‘I keep finding them in the cereal cupboard. My son came to get some cereal once, and a rat jumped out,’ he continued.

‘He was so shaken that he stayed away for three weeks.’

He also has pets in the flat, and is on constant alert fearing for their safety.

Craig shared that his disability makes it very difficult for him to clean and reset the traps every day.

‘It’s terrible-there’s a sense that something’s always lurking in the house, and you can’t escape it,’ he explained

‘Every day, I’m clearing out the traps and killing these rats myself. I feel like the housing association just doesn’t care about the conditions I’m living in.’

In a statement, the Tollcross Housing Association said: ‘Our policy on pest control is to work with Glasgow City Council and the tenant affected.’

In London, Claire Johnson has been experiencing similar woes.

The 31-year-old from Bermondsey, southeast London, said she has heard rats running through her walls since January 2024. 

She initially thought the problem was mice, but they have gotten louder over the last few months, leading her to believe they are now rats.

Rats are nocturnal, meaning they are most active at night and during dawn and dusk.

Claire said they are most active between the hours of two and five in the morning, which has kept her up at night.

‘It’s been really difficult to deal with,’ the nutritionist said.

‘I can hear them running across the beams of the ceiling at night and sometimes they will bump into each other in the walls and start fighting.

‘I thought they were mice initially but hearing how heavy and loud they sound, I think it might actually be rats.

‘I will regularly sleep on my pull-out sofa bed in the living room for a bit of peace as the noise is at its worst in the bedroom.’

She said the infestation has been causing her a lot of stress, and she worries that someone is ‘picking the lock’ on her front door.

Her landlord has been very accommodating, calling pest control and has reduced her rent while they deal with the issue.

Claire said the infestation has led to her not wanting to be at home, spending more time staying with her boyfriend, and travelling back to Huddersfield to her family home.

She added: ‘I really like living in London and I moved here to further my career as a nutritionist.

‘But I don’t know if I can deal with living in this flat much longer if this continues.’

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