Make sure your building is well maintained and drain pipes are capped off is the warning from Cleankill Environmental Services to London premises managers.
The managers of a commercial office building in Holborn, London, called in Cleankill after staff complained of noises coming from behind a wall.
Cleankill technicians were horrified to find a large colony of rats was coming in and out of the building through an uncovered drain that led directly into the London sewer network. If the problem had been left any longer the rats could have entered the building in large numbers and caused extensive damage to cables and pipes as well as contaminating everything they touched.
After making sure the drain that the rats were using to access the building had been blocked off, Cleankill staff removed all of the droppings from the affected area before carrying out a treatment to clean and remove any harmful bacteria. An extensive baiting programme was then implemented.