A plague of mutant ginger rats first spotted in Scotland are feared to have made their way south of the border , it was revealed last night . A shocking video taken by two revellers in Newcastle-upon-Tyne shows 60 large rodents scurrying down the street in a popular area of the city on Saturday . Now , there are claims the rats could be the same giant ginger species recently spotted 60 miles away in Hawick in the Scottish borders - which were feared to be moving south . Scroll down for video . Rats : A shocking video taken by two revellers in Newcastle-upon-Tyne shows 60 large rodents scurrying down the street in a popular area of the city on Saturday . Marc Donaghey , 22 , and his girlfriend Brooke Salkeld , 21 , captured the footage of around 20 rats - but said in total there were at least 50 or 60 of them running around the street . Mr Donaghey said : ‘ We walked around the corner and we saw dozens of rats . You only see a few on the video but when we first went around the corner there were about 50 or 60 . ‘ They were all over the bins and then running down the road . There were a few other people walking past so I ’ d shout “ watch ! ” and then they saw them . They were disgusted. ’ The video shows rats scuttling over the cobbles of a back lane and onto a nearby stretch of grass , squeaking loudly . The rodents are feared to be the same as the beasts spotted in Hawick last week . Shocking video : There are claims the rats in Newcastle could be the same giant ginger species recently spotted 60 miles away in Hawick in the Scottish borders - which were feared to be moving south . Running : The video shows rats scuttling over the cobbles of a back lane and onto a nearby stretch of grass . Numerous sightings were being reported to the council on a daily basis - and the rodents are believed to have ginger fur because freed domestic rats have been breeding with wild Scottish rats . Newcastle City Council ’ s environment manager Edwin Foster said : ‘ Littering and poor refuse storage attract vermin . Traders have a legal responsibility to make sure they store and dispose of their refuse correctly. ’ ‘ Pest control officers have been treating this area and will continue to do so , but people must understand the rats are there because people are leaving rubbish for the rats to feed on . ‘ . In Hawick , one businessman said he had seen ‘ dozens ’ of rats at a time on an industrial estate , while a pest controller in Scotland confirmed that he had been killing rodents on the site for months . But he added that it was becoming increasingly difficult to exterminate the creatures due to fear of killing other animals . A Scottish Borders Council spokesman said it was monitoring the rats there . Last year , a 2ft-long rat was captured in Cornwall . A new breed of genetically-mutated ‘ super rats ’ is spreading at alarming speeds , experts say . The rodents , which have been seen elsewhere in Britain over the past year , are twice as large as normal species and can not be killed with traditional substances . Earlier this year a swarm of mutant 20-inch rats that are immune to poison were found in Swindon , Wiltshire . Scientists have been charting the super rat invasion into new communities by monitoring their progress in 17 counties in the UK . Genetic testing by Huddersfield University has revealed that the rodents have developed a mutation that allows them to survive conventional poisons . Research earlier this year found that the swarm of ‘ super rats ’ spotted across the country is expected to outnumber humans two-to-one by next year . Last year , a 2ft-long rat was captured in Cornwall , with other huge rodents seen in Kent and Liverpool . Birmingham reported the most rat-related call-outs , with 5,100 in the past year . Locations : This map details where notable rats have been recorded across Britain over the past five years .
Shocking clip shows rats running along street in Newcastle on Saturday . Could be same ginger species recently spotted 60 miles away in Scotland . Revellers say people were 'disgusted ' , while council blames local traders .