Rats feeding from bins and running where children play have sparked residents to petition the council for action.

Tariq Ali, 33, from Spring Place, near Bradford University, said he has lived in the street all his life and the vermin problem has never been so bad.

"There are massive rats, they are cat-size and they are well fed. It's a holiday resort for them. You can see them in the morning walking about. The council sent a worker out. He said it was too big for him."

Unemployed Mr Ali, said he will be petitioning the council to get rid of the rats.

"We used to see one or two but now they are in your bins and in the back streets where the kids play and in the roads walking about."

He said the rats had been encouraged in the past by waste caused by functions held at nearby the Regency Centre, where many weddings take place.

But he said the management there had undertaken a clean-up operation last year and the big events there were usually not held at this time of year and only in the summer.

A Bradford Council spokesperson said: "We were called to Spring Place yesterday after sightings of rats were reported. We have put poison down and will keep up the treatment until they have gone.

"Unfortunately there is a problem in the area with fly-tipping and general rubbish. We have asked the area environmental health officers to make an inspection and serve notice on anyone who dumps rubbish.

"We would remind people that the onus is on them to provide a suitable covered bin for waste."

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