Muammar Al Khadafi

Bridgwater Grandmother Jean Hawkins, 71, has said that she is scared to leave her Bristol Road home because the area has become over-run by rats.

Quoted in the Bridgwater times, the 71 year old widow who has recently had two hip replacements, said that "The rats are the size of cats and I'm scared to just walk up the garden. I rarely leave the house because of them and a lot of people are scared, especially if they have young children visit".

Areas of Bristol Road, as anyone familiar with the street will tell you, are indeed overgrown and a haven for rats. The area around the former Cattle Market, and the playing fields, both of which back on to properties along Bristol road, are of particular concern and provide a perfect breeding ground for rodents.

Rats are indeed there, and are finding their way further and further along the street - one resident who lives very close to the Sainsburies store at the very top of Bristol Road has told this writer of discovering a rat in her front garden.

Are authorities going to do anything about it?

Well, according to the Environment Agency, rats are the residents problem unless the Agency decides that it is a severe infestation. The resident has to pay, although, how kind of them, the Environment Agency will offer subsidised pest control.

That's the Big Society in action again - it's your problem, you fix it. Isn't caring authority great, leaving a 71 year old widow to deal with an infestation of rats herself?