'You're scared to open your wheelie bin - in case they jump out at you'

It only takes a few steps into Tracy Baker's garden to spot two dead rats. A quick glance to the right reveals three more.

“It’s disgusting,” the 46-year-old told the Manchester Evening News as she stares down at the rotting carcasses. “Sometimes you’re scared to open your wheelie bin in case they jump out at you.”

It’s a nightmare the mum has endured on New Bury estate in Farnworth for some time. She says the infestation has seen her sentimental belongings destroyed and a washing machine damaged.

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Despite owning five cats, Tracy and her children have even been forced to sleep downstairs in fear of the rodents scurrying in walls around them, she says.

Those living in the Bolton town say the issue became much more noticeable in the summer of 2023. “It does affect me mentally,” Tracy said. “It’s every day. I’ve lived here for 10 years and it’s the only place I’ve ever lived somewhere for this long and felt alright.

“Then, all of a sudden, you start hearing this scuffling in the walls. For a while I thought, ‘Am I going crazy?’

“The next minute, the washing machine has flooded the kitchen and I realised they had chewed through the pipe.

“I’ve got things in the attic that I’ve probably lost because the rats have destroyed them – valuables and sentimental things like the kids’ toys. Since then, I haven’t gone back into the attic because I don’t know what I’m going to open my attic door to. I’ve lost all of that as far as I’m concerned.”

Mum-of-five Tracy says the problem became unbearable around four years ago and she was forced to call out pest control.

While that appeared to fix the issue, finding dead rats in her garden is