A pensioner was driven out of her Bradford home for two days - by a rat.

Furious Pat Keenan, 66, of Isaac Holden Place, Listerhills, was forced to stay with friends after neither the housing association which owns the property nor Bradford Council's pest control department could come to her immediate aid.

Mrs Keenan said: "It's absolutely disgusting. No-one was interested. They were all just passing the buck from one to another. They just do not want to know. It's not surprising we have rats here. It's a disgrace the state this complex is in."

Mrs Keenan was too scared to stay in her flat after the rogue rat ran through her patio door and lodged itself behind her gas fire on Wednesday.

Neighbour Harry Lee, 54, was called in to help when the rat later emerged from behind the fire.

Mr Lee called the housing association which said it was unable to help. When he called the pest control department, he was told no-one would be able to deal with the problem until Monday.

Only British Gas responded to the distress calls but - despite the best efforts of Mr Lee and a gas engineer who removed the fire - the rat managed to escape them for two hours and became loose in the flat.

A spokesman for British Northern Housing Association told the Telegraph & Argus: "The matter of pest control is not really our responsibility.

"Mrs Keenan should contact her local council who should provide a pest control service free of charge. The flats are only four years old and are well maintained. We are not aware of any problems at the flat. If they are reported to us, we will certainly follow it up." But after the call from the T&A, the association agreed to pay for a Rentokill exterminator to remove the rat yesterday as a gesture of goodwill.

Mrs Keenan said she was grateful that the problem had been eventually solved.

She said: "The pest people told us we could go and collect some poison from them but we aren't rat catchers."

Bradford Council's pest control department was unavailable for comment.

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