Rats, Traps, Bugs and Cutbacks Panorama

Stoo Rats. That's it, under the rubbish, under the blue bin,

there's a rat. Cockroaches. That's actually in the

door lock in the frame. They are firmly settled in there. Bedbugs.

The stuff of night mares. Oh God! All this black stuff is bedbug

dropings. There's a nice big adult. These will turn up in the poshest

hotels and houses. The pest controllers on the front line,

trying them to stop invading our homes. Happy days, cockroach again.

As budget cuts bite and councils cut back on pest control... Do you

fear your job is at risk? Yeah but there's plenty of pests out there.

We go undercover to test how easy it is to become a pest controller

and get hold of dangerous chemicals. Whoever sells there, where we've

just been, do not understand the consequences of what this can do.

We meet the pests fighting back. The lowest point was when I found a

family of rats living in the poison bag, living there happily. We ask,

are we in danger of losing the war? We've got the world's most

resistant rat in this part of the world, and increasingly that

No-one knows how many rats there are in the UK. It could be anything

from 6-20 million. It's oven said we're never more than ten feet away

from one. But this man, Peter Roy True. What counts as a rat

infestation. On the floor, you get a lot of these down here, which are

rat dropings. These things? That's dropping, they're fresh as well

because they're still skwishy. Peter is a pest controller with

Southwark Council in south London. Today he has rats in his sights.

When I open the chamber last week, about 10-15 rats come running out

at me so. You might see a couple, out of the bin chamber. No sign of

any rats so far. Just a corpse. Normally, they're decome posed in

about five days. When the rat is eaten the poison, its body because

boys news, so you couldn't chuck it in a normal bin. You're going to

take that with you now? Yeah. I'll get a cab I think. Yeah. I've

a lovely van I have. But it isn't long before a live rat makes a

break for freedom. Under the rubbish, there's a rat. It didn't

So, to get a better look we set up It wasn't long before we saw that

this block of flats has a serious problem. Rats don't like the

daylight, but here there were so many of them, they were happily out

searching for food. It's driving the residents to despair. Saw them

up the drain, I thought it is kittens, it is awful. It is

absolutely awful. To me, they're dirty things. And they multiply so

quickly. Is it embarrassing? It is embarrassing, so long as you don't

see them you're safe. Once you see them coming, it is like invasion.

It is absolutely vile. Peter is going to try and kill the rats

using poison. Left unchecked, they can cause real harm. Including in

extreme cases liver and kidney infections. We're talking about

illnesses like, with rat infestations, wiels disease, a

particularly nasty illness. The transfer of disease, through rats

coming through sewers and into people's houses. It is a broken

drain, that will need to be repaired that allowed the rats to

come up from the sewers in Southwark. In the meantime Peter

will continue to put poison down. Last year, council pest controllers

in the UK made nearly 300,000 rat- related visits to people's homes,

according to the British pest control association. While that

helped, manage their impact on us, no-one really knows what it is

doing to the overall rat population. Councils deal with all sorts of

other pests. And no-one is immune. In Stevenage, council pest

controller, Chris Woodard is getting reacquainted with an old

friend. The bedbug. You do not want these feeding on you at night.

but eradicated in British homes after the Second World War, they're

back. Thanks to our world travel and it is a easily spread. It will

have to be washed. Oh God. All this black stuff. That's bedbug dropings,

and there's a nice big adult there. This bits moving here. Bedbugs like

nothing better than waiting until you fall asleep and then feasting

on your blood. This is no relationship to hygiene or anything.

Nothing to do this at all. These will turn up in the poshest houses

and hotels. The same with all the pests, rats, mice, cockroaches.

Back in Southwark, Peter's turning his attention to another pest.

Cockroaches in this one, we have avenue had reports on this one.

Southwark looks after more council properties than any other borough

in the capital. Council pest controllers made almost 20,000

cockroach-related visits last year. This flat has such a bad pest

problem that the person who lives here has had to move out. That one

up on the doors, they're coming out to say hello now. One there, one

there. When you consider one egg can up to 38 cockroaches in it, it

can be out of control very fast. Southwark's 24 pest controllers

make up the biggest team in the country. Last year, they made

60,000 visits. What are they? are even more bedbugs here, they're

live and come back to. Council tenants here in Southwark, get the

service free. Peter's been dealing with outbreaks like these for six

years. How do you keep positive, when this is your Dail routine?

know I can get rid of them and make it better, so it is like that,

these won't stay like this once I finish with it. You get a sense of

satisfaction? Yeah, it is something I enjoyed in my working life. If

you made someone happy in your day's work, you did good no matter

what you get paid. Cockroach again. They're attracted to you. They love

me. For several years councils have been reducing their pest control

teams in order to save money. For now, Southwark is continuing to

fund its pest control service. But since the Government's

austerity drive the rate which they've been cut by councils has

increased. To keep theirs some felt forced to introduce charges, like

here in Stevenage, where they brought in a �47 fee last year.

When the council introduced charges, what impact did that have? Dropped

by 50% on the public health stuff, yeah. Why do you reckon that is.

think the people just felt, I'll try and deal with it ourselves, and

we'll go out and buy poison for a few pounds and try to deal with it

themselves. You've seen rats up here then less? I've noticed them

for two or three months x Today, Chris has come to help Les Benford,

he's fighting a rat problem, and at the moment he's losing. What have

you done to control them, have you put down poison? I virtually,

filled the holes in with bricks and stones, hoping it would deter them,

but it hasn't workeded. Face with the having to pay, many people try

to get rid of pests themselves. But as less found out, it is not as

easy as you might think. And using poisons can be dangerous. Most

people I see put it down, put it down in a tollly inappropriate way,

poisoning wildlife and doing themselves some harm. The �47

charge here in Stevenage gets you as many visits as you need.

Callouts have increased this year. But Chris is not taking his job for

Four to two. Do you fear your job is at risk. Of course, who wouldn't

in this day and age, in the way the public sector and private sector,

jobs have been lost. Of course it is a risk. But they're still loads

of pests out there. Cutbacks like those are worrying environmental

health experts. Resources to actually deal with the problem,

around the country, are diminishing. And so, I believe, that the problem

will get worse. Populations will increase. Damage, and the potential,

loss of well being, will be increased as well. Some councils

are going much further, than just charging for a service which had

been once been free. They're disbanding their teams altogether,

in the last two years, 29 councils have completely shut down their

service. Cornwall, council here got rid of the pest control service

last year, as one family found out toity cost. When did you realise

you had a rat problem, rather than the odd rat here and there? When I

saw three or four of them scurrying on the patio, I thought, actually

this is getting silly and starting to smell out here of rat pee.

year-old Miriam and Moses love playing in the garden. Their mum,

Cheryl who is tpwhot so keen because of the last 18 months

they've had rats. We have to risk assess our garden to make sure

there's no dead rats in the traps or doesn't smell of rat pee. I wipe

the table, and wipe down the slide with spray disinfectant, because I

don't know where the rats have been, have they been on my table, I don't

know. No longer able to call on the council, they considered hiring a

private firm. We were quoted �100 to look at the ground and see what

they wanted to do. And then, for each time they come back, it would

be more money. On the money that my husband and myself both bring in,

because they're registered disabled, we don't have that much money to

start w we live hand to mouth. Because they couldn't afford the

private company, they bought traps and managed to kill a few rats

themselves. But that's not got rid of them. Councils have to keep

their land free of rats and mice, and in extreme circumstances, they

can force you to do the same. But they aren't legally obliged to

If you can afford it, go through a professional. If you can't. You say

those who can, go through a professional, if they can't? It is

the grey area, that the cuts affect somebody, I would still expect my

staff to give advice. I don't like this, it and I wouldn't expect the

public to like T but I can only deliver what I can afford.

those who can afford to shop around, there are 47 firms in Cornwall and

hundreds across Britain. Neil Parker works for one of them.

it is Cleankill. Business is good for his London-based firm. Up 9% on

last year. There are at the males amongst that

lot. This job is part of a new contract

with a housing association. Neil believes the tenant may have

been living like this for sometime. There's a harbourage and

conservation of cockroaches, that's in a door lock in the frame. If you

can see them, they are, firmly settled in there. Cockroaches can

contaminate food and trigger allergies and asthma attacks.

is the gentleman's bedroom. You see the markings on the mattress,

There's a bedbug. So not only has he a German cockroach infestation,

he has bedbugs as well. He's living with the insects, so when he's

sleeping, they're feeding and when he's awake, they're sleeping. It is

a relationship, it is a vicious circle in the end. While some firms

can compete with councils on cost, others can't. One leading private

contractor is confident companies can pick up some of the slack

Council cutbacks. There's nothing sacred about a pest cell team, for

a number of years now, we have had an erosion, and the sky's not

fallen out. There's not a sudden outbreak of pestness the locations

that have had private contractors. There's no evidence using a private

contractors will be inferior. so, their services may be out of

reach for some of the most vulnerable. Local authorities are,

the safety net for society. And many people who can't afford pest

control need to find some sort of support. They're oven the ones that

have the - often the ones that have the most serious problems near and

where they live. There were 57 complaints about pest control

companies in the last flee months and experts worry some are driven

to the cheapest end of the market. To cowboys. Like me. You don't need

any qualifications or license to become a pest controller. So I set

up shop in an area that's done away with the council-run pest control

teams Some phone numbers in a newsagent's window, and ads in

local papers, and I'm almost set to g - go. Within the week the phone

was reining. Unsuspected customers expecting a cheap and effective

service, lucky for them, I passed on a pest controller, qualified to

deal with the problems. In a matter of days, I proved how easy it is to

set up in the pest control business. There's low barriers to entering in

pest control. My concern is those people untrained and unlpsed and

unregulated and uninsured, are going in people's houses and could

potentially cause serious problems around health issues, up to and

including something that could be lethal. I got the van, I know I can

get the customers. Now, I'm going in search of the chemicals the pest

controllers use. Some of them are incredibly dangerous. And as a

cowboy, I shouldn't be able to get hold of them. The most dangerous on

sale is in the same class as arsenic and strychnine. It is

called aluminium phosphide. It is illegal to sell it to someone

untrained like me. It is used to gas rats. We went under cover to

test how well the law is being upheld. They should ask to see my

ID and proof I know how to use this stuff safely. I visited eight shops

Here I was turned away. It was the But at this shop it was a different

Here the salesman asked me lots of I can't show a license, because I

don't have one. He should see some proof I know what I'm doing. But

after giving a false name and address, he sells it to me anyway.

Aluminium phosphide is so dangerous, we're not allowed to transport it,

so we have a pest controller who is qualified to carry it on hand to

take it off us. This is seriously dangerous stuff. Very, very

worrying. This stuff as you can see, it explains everything on here, it

is incredibly dangerous to the environment, it's been known in the

past to actually kill pest controllers who have not handled it

in the long way. Locked out of Here, fewer questions. Again I

She too, appears to be breaking the law. In total, we bought this

poison from three of the eight shops we visited. I can't believe

it. I can't believe it. These people clearly don't realise, what

this stuff is. They, whoever sells this, where we've just been, do not

understand the consequences of what this can do. Just one onity own,

never mind two. It is crazy. Untrained, unlicenseed and

unqualified. There's absolutely no way, that someone like me, should

be getting hold of products as dangerous as this. After visiting a

few shops and answering very few questions, here we are. Tighter

regulations will be up and running by the end of next year, to

preprevent the unlawful selling of product like these. They want to

Of people's homes. The pest control industry is an important one.

Because pest controllers should be our front line of defence against

the bugs and residents that can have a serious impact on public

health. But what happens when the pests fight back? You've always had

rats here. Always had rats here, ever since I've been here and

before. In the countryside, rats come with the territory. But two

years ago, thousands of them nearly cost farmer David Cripps his

livilihood in West Berkshire. How bad it was, at its worst, the rat

problem. There wouldn't have been a building on the farm we wouldn't

have seen a rat in. At that time. We were buying poison, at a fast

rate of knots, and we just weren't killing the rats. What he didn't

know then was his farm was in the middle of an area where rats had

become resistant to the only poisons he was allowed to use.

lowest point was when I found the family of rats living in the poison

bag, and living there quite happily. They were eating a feeding it, and

it was just like giving them Kandy, sweets. The problem began because

of the genetic mutation in a smul number of rats which made them

resistant to poisons, so their population grew. We got the world's

most resistant rat in this part of the world. And inceasingly that

resistance is spreading. Stranger rat reaistance has been found in

areas from Kent to Scotland there. Are three stronger poisons he could

use, but he's banned from putting them outdoors, because of the risk

they poise to wildlife like this Red Kite. The problem is the

resistant rat spread all of the country, and we're in a situation

where you can use the three compounds at the present time

you're not allowed to use. Although their use is controversial, the

Health and Safety Executive is launching a consultation, about

allowing the use of the stronger In the meantime, David's had to

resort to extreme tactics with his war with his rats. This is a

standard, air, 22 rifle, so it is running on 12 roupd and this is a

night scope, which is ideal for the job. He's hireed local pest

controllers, Stephen and Graham to shoot them. It's worst, team of

three guns and the first night it was over 300 we shot. In one night?

In one night. Did that make a dent in the population here? Not for the

first week. Nothing at all. It's taken a long time to get to where

we are now. But with rats the battle is never over. Stephen and

Graham regularly bring their rifles So, resistant rats, rogue pest

controllers and council cutbacks, they could all pose a serious risk

to public health according to some experts. And they want a battle

plan. They are a number of Government departments that have an

interest in public health. Particularly with regard to pest

control. The question is are they being co-ordinated in any shape or

form. My view is no they're not. We don't know what the numbers are. We

don't know whether or not we have the same populations of rodents now

as we did 20 years ago. That data isn't available. Why not? We ought

to be selecting it. - collecting it. We tried to find out who is taking

the lead on pest control and public health. The Department of Health

said it wasn't something for them. So we went to the Health Protection

Agency, who passed us on. To here, the department for the environment,

food and rural affairs, who told us that pest control wasn't really

their problem. So they, like the Department of Health, sent us here,

to the department for communities and local government. They didn't

seem to want to take the lead either. They said, pest control is

a matter for local councils. So, with no-one seemingly at the helm,

and at a time of cutbacks, it is feared we may have to live with

more pestness the future. If the cats can't do anything about it,

and we can't afford it, we have to live with it, and bait our traps

every night and remove the rats every morning As far as public

health pests go, they would be out of control t would take

considerable time and that's the problem of course. None of this is

measureable quickly, it is going to be a long-term approach. If

something will happen, it will be over, three, five, perhaps ten

years. If you hadn't got the rat problem under control, what impact

would it have had on your business? I wouldn't be in business t would

have taken the business, because they would have won. Without a