Man whose Mercedes was destroyed by rats ‘disappointed’ bin strike continuing

A Birmingham resident whose car was destroyed by rats in a street where piles of rubbish were “as tall as” him is “disappointed” that bin workers have rejected the deal to end the long-running strike.

Rats have been seen scurrying around mounting piles of rubbish, food waste and bin bags outside homes, shops and restaurants in the city since hundreds of refuse workers went on strike last month.

Adam Yasin, 33, from the Balsall Heath area of the city, said his Mercedes was “completely written off” just weeks ago because rats had chewed through wires in the engine.

He said: “Because of that certain wiring, the car wouldn’t start. They said they need to rewire the whole car but the insurance company said it was too expensive.

“It has been really bad, especially where I live, there are a lot of restaurants there. I swear there was a pile (of rubbish) as tall as me, I kid you not.

“Today they collected the rubbish that was on the floor, so the bags that were on the floor, but the bins are still left.”

Mr Yasin said it has been a “nightmare” to get rid of his own rubbish but he could not get to a mobile rubbish collection site opened by Birmingham City Council because his car was damaged.

He said it is a “surprise” that Unite members voted to reject the deal on Monday and he is “actually disappointed” with the result.

He said: “It’s more to do with hygiene on the streets. I take my son to the nursery and I use a specific street and honestly it was blocked. It’s just annoying, and when the kids are there they like to touch things as well.”

Another Birmingham resident, who did not want to be named, said: “They (Unite members) keep rejecting stuff but nobody knows what they are rejecting.

“It’s not like they’re doing it on purpose, they probably live around here themselves. They can see it themselves. Their streets aren’t getting cleaned either.”

Black bin bags have been piled outside the home of 42-year-old Jyoti Rathod in Balsall Heath, which she described as “horrendous” but “clean compared to the past few weeks”.

She said: “I think everyone was hoping that they would come to a solution, because it’s not fair on the residents now. Because we work I don’t get time to go to the centre to drop off the rubbish.

“We’ve seen a couple of dead rats and they are quite huge. Really, really, really huge rats. But the stench last week was horrible. It’s frustrating.

“I have got a cat so I’m like, I’m going to send my cat out, but I think my cat is going to be scared of the rats because of the size. It’s not nice.”