York mother Gillian Clark has been forced out of her Tang Hall home by the stench of rotting rodents.

Gillian Clark, of Rawdon Avenue, Tang Hall, York, and her daughter, Sophie, two. Gillian says her home smells of rotting rat corpses Picture: Steven Bradshaw

Gillian, 25, of Rawdon Avenue, and her two-year old daughter Sophie, have today moved into bed-and-breakfast accommodation, claiming that the "stink" from dead rats in their council house has driven them out.

"It's horrible," she said, "I can't stay in this house any more.

"I can't eat my food in the lounge, I can't sleep in my own bedroom, the smell is too much for me."

"We can hear scurrying at night," she continued, "and next door they have chewed the carpet and even eaten some bread that was left out.

"I just don't think the council has done enough. Don't they realise I have a young daughter?"

Gillian called in the council to look at the rat problem, and although they have pulled up floorboards and laid down bait and poison to kill the rats, the decomposing corpses remain.

Over the festive period, when City of York Council offices were closed, she called out Castle Pest Control at her own expense.

"We went round there and pulled up a few floorboards," said owner Kevin Smith, "and we found a rat skeleton.

"We laid some bait under the floorboards. We did everything we could for her."

City of York Council environmental health workers are confident the rats have been killed, but believe the bodies are stuck in the cavity walls and it will take a few days for the smell to go.

A spokeswoman for the council said: "We do sympathise with them, we have all done all we can to help.

"As there is no risk to health, we are not in a position to temporarily rehouse them. Our officers are confident the smell will go away in a few days."

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