Hordes of rats escaping from sinkhole and destroying cars say angry residents

Residents claim their cars are being destroyed by rats escaping from a Nottingham sinkhole that has been left unrepaired for six months.

The tenants of Manvers Court, a council-owned block of flats in Sneinton, estimate 22 vehicles have been wrecked by rodents chewing through wires.

The hole on a path outside the building has been reported to the property managers numerous times, said residents, but half a year on it has still not been fixed.

It’s thought there are sewers underneath, and although currently covered with a temporary yellow plastic lid, the rats are managing to escape and cause havoc, according to locals.

Denise Drury, who has lived in the block for 42 years, said: ‘My son lost his van. He took it for an MOT, and they lifted the bonnet up and they asked him if he’d been anywhere where there is a lot of rats. They found rat droppings in the bonnet.

‘Then they found a cable had been chewed through. They repaired it but he was out driving one day, back down here from up north, and his car started making a funny noise and then smoking. He had to get it towed and it was ruined.’

Residents believe that the hole has been caused by rats in the first place, burrowing into the soft ground under the paving slabs and bricks.

Initially, when it was reported, the council only provided two orange barriers to warn people that it was there.

A few months later they added the plastic covering, however, residents said it caneasily be dislodged.

Denise added: ‘We’ve reported and reported and reported. The caretakers have reported it too. We think they’re breeding down there. Nobody bothers with us.’

Residents said they see the rats scuttling around the car park and one owner showed Nottinghamshire Live a video of a rat in his engine that had electrocuted and killed.

BMW owner Mohammed has taken to spraying his own home-made anti-rat solution – made of cayenne pepper, vinegar, garlic, chilli flakes, rosemary, mint – around his car, in order to keep the rodents away. But he’s already lost another vehicle – a Renault – to the rats.

He said: ‘I wanted that car for my daughter. It’s really sad. But the rats ate every single red wire. They thought it was meat.

‘The cost to repair it and get it back on the road was not worth it. But I can’t lose my BMW. I’m not rich. We’re not rich. We’re poor. Something has to be done.’

Resident Lucio Valentino added: ‘There are kids that play out here too. That’s an added concern.’

Nottingham council said a contractor ‘should be on the site’ early next week to fix the issue, which it said was reported to authorities as ‘a cracked and uneven path’.

A spokesperson said: ‘We have already carried out drainage surveys on the site and fixed anything that needed doing. We will also be doing another survey of all of the drains starting next week to look for any more deterioration.

‘At the moment, we don’t believe the issue with this manhole is causing more pest activity in the area. However, pest control visited in October and baited the area and we will continue to carry out investigations when issues like these are flagged to us.’

Last year we shared a map showing the worst areas in the UK for rat infestations, with Nottingham coming in at number 10.

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