Grandmother who has been sent back to ‘giant’ rats home in Camden Street

Published: August 4, 2011
by TOM FOOT

A GRANDMOTHER has been terrorised by vermin in her own home amid fears Camden Town is being over-run by large rats.

The living room sofa was shaking with the movement of rodents and the lounge drapes rustled when the New Journal visited Stavoulla Loucas on Wednesday.

The 81-year-old’s daughter Helen said she had seen rats feasting on the maggot-infested bodies of other rats at the Camden Street council property.

“It’s getting really bad when the rats are eating the rats,” she said.

A growing number of readers have contacted the New Journal reporting sightings including one who claims to have seen a rat “the size of a microwave” in West Hampstead before alerting the emergency ser­vices on Sunday.

After temporarily moving Ms Loucas out of her home for her own safety two weeks ago, Camden Council told her to move back on Monday claiming the problem had been resolved.

Helen said: “They told her to leave after a gas leak but when we came back to look at the place it was worse than when we left. How can they say she can live there?”

The New Journal’s pictures reveal the shabby state of the flat.

Town Hall officials said on Tuesday they were “very sorry for delays in completing repairs and solving the rat problem”, insisting that they would be gone within two weeks. The council has helped arrange for her grandchildren to stay with Ms Loucas for protection.

Her neighbours told the New Journal there were dozens of homes infested in the area and warned of a major public health hazard.

“It’s like Camden boomtown rats round here,” said John Stanmore, who lives in Camden Street.

“They must be coming from the River Fleet which runs under here.”

The council no longer send rat catchers into the sewers to tackle the pests.

New Journal readers have also claimed rubbish problems in Camden Town are worsening. But even in Fortune Green, West Hampstead, sightings of rats have increased, according to Robin Collingwood.

He said: “My neighbour came in shouting that there was a rat the size of a microwave in the garden.

“We pulled all the kids out and locked them in the kitchen. The police gave me no advice and said they could not do anything if it was on ­private land.

“The council told me to call Rentokill.”

The common rat, also known as the brown rat, hunts by night and in Camden has been found to weigh more than a kilo and longer than 60cm – the size of two school rulers.

Carriers of Weil’s disease – a rare infection which starts with flu-like symptoms which can be fatal – they can also cause salmonellosis, causing diarrhoea and vomiting.

Females breed in autumn spawning dozens of little rat babies that will learn to “burrow, climb and jump” making them impossible to control without professional help.

A Town Hall spokesman said: “The council offers a pest control service, available to owner-occupiers, landlords, tenants, leaseholders, housing associations and commercial/business premises.

“For Council tenants there is no charge for rat treatment.”