LIVING HELL
We live on Britain’s ‘most disgusting street’ with 7ft mound of rubbish infested with RATS – we won’t let kids outside
PARENTS on Britain's "most disgusting street" say they won't let their kids play outside because of a 7ft mountain of rubbish infested with rats.
Residents of Sladefield Road in Birmingham said their lives are made 'hell' by the festering piles of trash left along their street.
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They added that groups of rats are plaguing the area and can regularly be seen scurrying along the pavements.
Parents are refusing to let their children play outdoors or invite friends over because of the disgusting health hazard.
Piles of rubbish are dumped all along the road but the worst problems have been caused by a skip abandoned just yards from a primary school.
Since being left on the street a month ago, it has become a magnet for fly-tipped waste before it was eventually removed by the council yesterday.
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Shocking photos show how the stomach-churning pile grew to around 7ft tall.
Shopkeeper Abrar Khan, 36, said: "I tried to find the skip company but couldn't find it.
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"There's a lot of rubbish on the top, it's got very bad. It's been there one month now.
"You can see people walking by and chucking their rubbish in, if there's no bin nearby."
The dad-of-four added: "The smell is bad. It's because of the food in there. People walk by and put their food in.
"The other day I saw a rat, it was near the rubbish. It'll be going for the food.
"A lot of people have contacted the council but they haven't done anything.
"It's in front of my door. Customers have to come and they point at it and think that I put it there. They say you should do something, but what can I do?"
Lifelong resident Mohammed Azkar, 49, said: "I have just watched it deteriorate for the last 40 years.
"It's got quite bad, in terms of antisocial behaviour and the rubbish.
"It's lawless on the roads. It's changed so much since I was a child. There's not much police here.
Mohammed added: "I came here when it was nice and green, now there's overpopulation and parking problems.
"If you live there it is hell. It is really difficult. You have cars upon cars, people park anywhere as well as all the rubbish.
"There's a lot of anti-social behaviour. This wouldn't be tolerated anywhere else in the city.
"It's completely lawless in respect to parking. We've also got chop shops in the area where they take the stolen cars and take them apart.
"The corner where the skip is, hundreds of school kids have to live next to that, they become desensitised to rubbish.
"It's entirely down to the council."
It's changed so much since I was a child
Mohammed Azkar
Shah Nawaz, 56, said: "It started off a few years ago. People are ignoring the bin collection days or they don't understand it.
"The rubbish is just everywhere, it's not even the skip. There's rats and the council have had to put poison down.
"The council tried to claim it was commercial rubbish.
"You come here and it feels like you come into a different world. I've seen so many rats so many times, they go into small houses.
"My daughter deals with all of this and it just gets her so angry.
"The council aren't doing anything about it. I don't want to give a bad name to the area but it needs changing."
Another local resident added: "It's hell living around here.
"People don't invite their families around because it's not safe and it stinks now. It's disgusting, like a slum."
Councillor Majid Mahmood, Birmingham City Council cabinet member for environment, said: "Following complaints from local people we took action to remove the skip on Sladefield Road today.
"Clean streets are a top priority in this city - so we are taking a zero tolerance approach when skips are plonked on our streets without the right permissions or any signage that enables us to contact the owner.
"In this case, the skip had hazardous items and was attracting rodents.
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"This should act as a clear warning to anyone thinking of doing the same.
"We will take action and if we do find out who you are, we will seek to recover costs or take any appropriate legal action."
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