AN Accrington mother-of-five has raised fresh complaints to Hyndburn Council about rats and rubbish bags, after spotting two rats while preparing a family barbecue.

The sighting followed last week's borough council's litter commission meeting, where links between rats and litter were highlighted.

Fiona Grant, of Meadoway, Church, said: "We had a barbecue at the weekend and two rats came running from the back garden shed."

She said she believed rats were attracted to bags of domestic rubbish waiting for collection since wheelie bins were recently introduced in a pilot scheme.

She spoke this week to Hyndburn Council environmental health officers and an officer was due to visit her today..

She said binmen had refused to take her bags of rubbish, saying they would only empty wheelie bins. And she claimed fortnightly waste collections were too infrequent for large families.

She said: "At one point, there were 26 bags of rubbish here, which the binmen refused to take. However, they were eventually shifted about three weeks ago. But now, there are another 10 and 15 bags waiting for collection."

Mrs Grant said she and her neighbours were all issued with small wheelie bins, regardless of need.

Hyndburn Council yesterday said Mrs Grant qualified for a larger 360 litre bin which is due from the manufacturer early May. In the meantime, she is on the bin crew's list to have her waste taken away.

In addition to waste, last week's litter commission also blamed warm winters, leading to year-round rat breeding, and major construction for contributing to Hyndburn's rodent problem.

Better waste collection and rat-poisoning was promised. While speakers also predicted teething problems with the pilot wheelie bin schemes, they were sure the bins would become successful.