A Perth supermarket has remained open for business despite the discovery of rats, The Courier has learned.
An anonymous tip-off revealed that the rodents had been discovered at the Tesco Metro store in South Street. Bakery and delicatessen areas were closed and the latter partitioned off after the issue came to light.
Customers continued to shop in the remainder of the busy city centre store, unaware of the behind-the-scenes difficulties.
Notices had been put up informing customers that “technical issues within the counters area” meant they were unable to operate and apologising for the inconvenience.
After being approached, however, Tesco admitted that there had been a “rodent issue” at the store.
A spokeswoman stressed there had been no risk to food safety and said the vermin problem had been addressed, with no likelihood of a recurrence.
Officers from Perth and Kinross Council’s environmental health team are set to visit the Tesco Metro store to offer advice.
A spokeswoman for Tesco said: “As soon as we noticed an issue in a small section, we took the decision to close off the area.
“We have been working hard to deal with the problem swiftly and effectively and are confident that it was limited to only one area of the store.
“We would like to reassure our customers that this is in no way a risk to food safety and are sorry for the inconvenience while we resolve the issue.”
A spokesman for Perth and Kinross Council said the local authority’s environmental health team had not been informed of any issue at the shop.
He told The Courier that the supermarket did not have a duty to inform environmental health only a legal responsibility to act to sort out any such problem.
He did, however, add that officers would visit the shop, having been made aware of the issue.
One regular customer, when told of the problem, said: “I am a little disappointed to learn that there has been a rat problem.
“The sign said it was a technical issue. I am not sure I would have bought fresh produce from the store today had I known the true nature of the situation.”