A Fife woman is living in fear that she could be subjected to another horde of rats after dumping restarted near her home.
Phamie Campbell’s Methil flat was infested earlier this year after fearless rodents attracted by rotting food left on privately-owned waste ground burrowed their way through her walls.
Mrs Campbell, 57, was seen on tonight’s episode of BBC 1 show, The Council, complaining to local authority workers about a lack of action to clear up the mess behind a row of shops on Wellesley Road.
While Fife Council workers did eventually move in to remove the rubbish and rid the area of rats, she claimed lessons had not been learned and waste was appearing again.
The council conceded there had been issues with periodic dumping but insisted any items found had been removed quickly.
“I don’t have the rats anymore but people have started dumping again,” Mrs Campbell said.
“The council said they would extend the wall so nobody could fly tip but it’s never happened.
“There’s no sign of the rats yet but the dumping is what caused it in the first place so I’m really worried they’ll come back.”
Mrs Campbell told in February how she had been driven from her bed by the stench of rotten rodent carcasses behind her walls.
Lying on her couch at night, she was kept awake by the noise of rats scurrying above her ceiling and under her floors.
The source of her nightmare was leftover takeaway food thrown over a wall behind a number of overflowing bins.
Other items, including an old pram, had also been dumped.
Local councillor John O’Brien, who took up Mrs Campbell’s case, accused the council of being “all talk”.
“The dumping is continuing and just a fortnight ago we had two double freezers dumped,” he said.
Levenmouth area manager Dave Paterson said the area was checked regularly by officers and added: “Where there’s been dumping it’s lifted fairly quickly.
“It’s never going to get anything like how it was before.
“It’s being dumped onto land that isn’t ours but the council is undertaking to make sure it’s cleared.”
