HS2 ‘forcing the rats to move out and up the drains’

• AS a resident on Mornington Terrace – I love this street and have lived here for more than 27 years – which faces into the Camden Cutting, I have long had to cope with the blight caused to it by HS2.

But since last Wednesday I have had to consider a new type of HS2 menace, rats fleeing the (sinking?) project.

We’ve never before had rats here. Mice, yes, but not rats. And we can hear them climbing through the walls up to the other storeys. One has even been seen in our main hallway.

I’d like to thank staff at Camden Council’s pest-control department who were great. They provided an excellent service when they took my call last week.

A member of staff asked, without any prompting from me, how close I was to HS2, and then explained that the works on the railway are forcing the rats to move out and up the drains. In their “hundreds”.

Pest control have taken on two new members of staff, but it’s not enough to keep up with the number of calls they are getting, and they say that the council is appealing to HS2 for more resources.

CLAIRE LAZENBY
Mornington Terrace, NW1