Southport Forums - Rats - Parents are worried for children's safety

Rats - Parents worried for children's safety
Mon 25th Nov 2002, 10:45 PM
Reported by: onthespot

After receiving a number of emails from local residents to our office (press@southport.gb.com) we went to see why parents are concerned for the safety of their children. A large population of rats are running around McDonalds car park at Kew.

Onthespot went to investigate the situation tonight Monday 25th November 2002.

You can see from the photographs below why parents are worried.

Pictured below was the scene at 9.00pm tonight.

Although McDonalds employ a resident cat, the rats run free.

Pictured below is the resident cat

Bottom left another rat enjoys a meal

This rat is friendly

Last edited by pedoja : Mon 25th Nov 2002 at 11:38 PM.

YOUR COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE

(28 comments)

pedoja says:	Mon 25th Nov 2002, 11:18 PM

Unfortunately this is a sign of the times.....

There are litter bins in the car park, however although I do NOT go to McDonalds very often I see the occupants of the cars in the carpark, finish their meal and just chuck the debris out of the car window.

This is JUST what the rats want....... free food readily available.....

Keep Britain Tidy

Make Southport Sparkle..!

Sabatier says:	Mon 25th Nov 2002, 11:19 PM

The resident cat looks as though it may have had too many take aways! - the rat's rather plump too!

2112 says:	Mon 25th Nov 2002, 11:34 PM

Anything, ANYTHING, that brings problems to the great evil that is McDonalds is a GREAT thing.

Now then ON THE SPOT, this is news. Proper public interest stuff.

Far more important than a bloke buying a paper.

RedStarLine says:	Mon 25th Nov 2002, 11:42 PM

the area is full of rabbits too, a proper wildlife haven.

2112 says:	Mon 25th Nov 2002, 11:45 PM

a McD funny......

Sabatier says:	Tue 26th Nov 2002, 12:06 AM

This is the view that McDonald's have recently inflicted on us from our terrace....... there have been bars on this stretch - to my personal knowledge - for seventeen years. Not one of them has previously been allowed to do this sort of thing.... someone from the Town Hall will have acquired a a new swimming pool recently!

seivad says:	Tue 26th Nov 2002, 12:38 AM

Southport has always had a rat problem, nowt to do with McD's. However I would have expected Southport rats to have a more discerning taste in food. The old Broadbents store, now BHS, used to be slewing with them....as did most of the stores on Lord Street. Oh - and the Prince of Wales ....let's not even go there!

mikeloaf says:	Tue 26th Nov 2002, 12:44 AM

A few air rifles and a couple of terriers we would soon sort them out! Dirty things make my skin crawl!

What are mcdonalds doing to combat the problem? 1 cat is hardly going to resolve the situation.

Taff says:	Tue 26th Nov 2002, 10:24 AM

A cat is no good for anything bigger than mice, Mikeloaf,
what thay need is a good Jack McRussell, the best McRatters on earth:D

Silly Tilly says:	Tue 26th Nov 2002, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RedStarLine
the area is full of rabbits too, a proper wildlife haven.

So a few rabbits make it a wildlife haven?! Rabbits are not a native species to England and can carry with them as many diseases as rats do, if not more!

Rabbits are responsible for the destruction of many habitats in Britain and stop full vegetation succession as it should be.............

There are always going to be rats in a place, its just rare that you see them and unless aggrevated or allowed into food storage areas then do not pose a risk to humans.

Tilly

:angwing :joker :silly

GOLDIE says:	Tue 26th Nov 2002, 02:38 PM

Rats-like any other creature, will only flourish where there is a viable habitat. Unfortunately, the type of people who live off muckdonalds are the ones who chuck their leftovers out onto the streets. Go out late at night or early morning and you can see enough food on the streets of Southport to feed the 3rd world. Visit Tesco's carpark early in the morning and parts of it are ankle deep in muckdonalds litter. They should pay the wages of Tesco's sweepers!
Muckies should get a rat welfare award.

pedoja says:	Tue 26th Nov 2002, 02:43 PM

When McDonalds first opened on Eastbank Street they employed litter pickers.....

To collect all the McDonald trash that was chucked on the ground.

Perhaps this should happen once again!

mikeloaf says:	Tue 26th Nov 2002, 02:50 PM

There does seem to be litter pickers at the kew site. I have regularly seen staff collecting rubbish from the car park. The problem is they cannot collect it as fast as the scum bags can launch it!

Maybe they should employ a security guard to force people to use bins instead :D ???

Taff says:	Tue 26th Nov 2002, 03:35 PM

Whilst being a McDonalds fan myself, one who always uses a bin I may add, it is a problem.

Has anyone else noticed the sudden McFlurry of McDonalds litter up and down the coast road from Ocean Plaza??

Lazuli says:	Tue 26th Nov 2002, 04:08 PM

McDonalds is a worldwide problem; not confined to one town or country. Wherever they are, there is ugly litter. Washington prides itself on being an almost litter-free state but it is easy to see where the McDonalds are located. I blame McD's for starting the current trashy state of the Champs Elysees in Paris - helped along by Burger King of course. Then again, what is wrong with people that we cannot use litter bins? We are all spoiled rotten. SEV: I never saw, or heard spoken of, rats at the POW during my longish tenure. Mr. Smith, the Head Chef de Cuisine, ran his kitchen like an Army general and would certainly have been very strict with regard to hygiene. Maybe Pedoja's Dave has an opinion on this?

Stargazer says:	Tue 26th Nov 2002, 07:37 PM

There are rats in Botanic Gardens too. In the summer I was with a group of eight year old school children, and we had all sat down to eat our picnic on the benches, when someone noticed the rats - big ones, scuttling around, grabbing bits of dropped food and running off down their holes.
The children were all shouting "Rats! Rats!" but the gardeners nearby didn`t bat an eyelid.

pedoja says:	Tue 26th Nov 2002, 08:02 PM

The Pier Shelters are becoming a liter bin for McD's too....

There are cups/bags and boxes.... on, under and pushed behind the benches in the shelter....

Come on McD..........Sponsor some bins....... and try to educate people to USE THEM....!

panda says:	Tue 26th Nov 2002, 08:23 PM

Two points :
McDonalds uses far too much packaging. It's the only place I've ever been in where there's more packaging than food. I just don't go there any more - I come out hungrier than I went in.
There's been masses of rats at Kew for many.many years. The area around the old zoo lake (behind the Richmond, where the hospice is now) was lousy with them in the early 1960's.

Babe says:	Wed 27th Nov 2002, 12:45 AM

I wonder what Ronald Mcdonald would say about this rat problem??......................................... .....

Oops looks like hes busy!!!!!!!

xxx:p :p :tasty

RedStarLine says:	Wed 27th Nov 2002, 12:58 AM

some rats are endangered so check which ones they are before you shoot them. there are plenty of foxes up there, but I bet they prefer McDonalds to rats and rabbits. Like I say a wild life haven.

GOLDIE says:	Wed 27th Nov 2002, 12:52 PM

Perhaps the parents who are worried about their children could teach them not to throw litter about. I followed a car out of Southport on Sunday which appeared to have a family on board, ie, dad driving, mum passenger & 3 kids in the back. As they drove along, mum kept turning to pass things to the kids and chucking the wrappers out of the sunroof. What an example!:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

AdmiralAckbar says:	Wed 27th Nov 2002, 01:21 PM

Much as it pains me to make the point, McD's may not be the problem here.

Peoples attitude to dropping litter is the issue - McD's only provides the ammunition for them to do so. :(

If people use the bins provided (or took their litter home with them) and if the bins are emptied on a regular basis, the vermin would not be attracted to the area.

Does anyone know how often the bins are emptied?

Thought says:	Wed 27th Nov 2002, 09:33 PM

Enviromental Health..... Whats there response?

botanybabe says:	Thu 28th Nov 2002, 12:25 AM

Mc Donalds should purchase some of those new bait bins especially designed for catching rodents, They have a hole at the bottom with bait inside then the rats go in and HEY PRESTO theyve had it. Apparently the council have just purchased some for Botanic Gardens but I think they have forgotten to bait the things. ( TYPICAL COUNCIL LOT) PERHAPS THEY THINK THE RATS WILL JUST BE NOSEY AND TAKE A PEEK INSIDE !!!!
Seriously people should be fined for dropping litter BYE LAW OF THE COUNCIL well it used to be. Then again what happened TO KEEP BRITAIN TIDY.

johnnymac1uk says:	Fri 29th Nov 2002, 06:44 PM

is there any truth in the rumour that the 'fat rat' mentioned above is planning to sue Mcdonalds for making it fat????????

tonio says:	Sun 1st Dec 2002, 04:26 PM

Perhaps Roland Rat has eaten a lot of 'macfood' and been transformed into Ronald macDonaald?

I have nottified Environment cabinet member Cllr David Tattersall of your concerns - I would suggest that any other posters of issues like this if they want to see good services for the public/ public protection might think to contact the appropriate officer or councillor not INSTEAD OF posting here but AS WELL AS ?

chucky says:	Wed 4th Dec 2002, 12:11 AM

:confused: What do you think on the rat problem mate..???:confused:

ratring says:	Wed 4th Dec 2002, 12:47 AM

leave them alone. They deserve to be there as much as that lard arsed cat does, as we used to say in the Marines, we'll kill them, let god sort them out!

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