HORRIFIED neighbours have called for urgent action to tackle a rat infestation after one householder caught ten rats.

Jack Maher, of Peronne Crescent, Blackburn, said he has been forced to buy rat traps to catch the rodents which are plaguing householders in the Intack area of the town.

In just the last week he has caught two more of the pests which he is having to dispose of in his wheelie bin and other residents have seen dead rats in the street and in the road.

Today Coun Mohammed Khan, executive member for housing and neighbourhoods at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "We found the source of the rats to be a broken drain, which the owner has dealt with. We are also carrying out a preventative course of sewer baiting."

Mr Maher said: "They are absolutely disgusting and something must be done to rid the area of them for good.

"I have patio windows and when I look out into my garden at night I can see them running around. Everyone in the road has seen them and I think the problems we are having with the fly-tipping of rubbish is making the problem worse.

"We are doing everything we can and have even stopped feeding the birds in case the bread we were leaving out was attracting the rats.

"People have told me that they have seen them running up the road it really is awful."

Council staff laid pellets to kill the rats by dehydrating them but Mr Maher said that just caused rats to jump in his fish pond!

Martin Baybutt, who owns a barber's shop on Accrington Road, has found two rats in the back alley which runs behind his shop onto Peronne Crescent.

He said: "Everyone that you speak too has either seen a rat themselves or knows someone who has.

"One man said his outdoor Christmas lights went off and he found that the cable had been chewed through by rats.

"The council must do something to get rid of them once and for all. This has been going on too long."

Residents believe the rat situation is being made worse by the amount of fly-tipping.

Maureen Moorcroft, treasurer at Intack and Knuzden Working Men's Conservative Club, said she had phoned the council three times to ask for removal of dumped rubbish.

But over two weeks after her first call the rubbish has still not been removed.

She added: "It's not only unsightly, it is dirty and I am sure it cannot be helping to reduce the number of rats."