A tenant who “battled three rats with a potato masher” before fleeing her rodent-invested home has accused her housing association of neglect.
Teresa Barratt has lived at her Eastlight Community Homes property, in Jennings Close, Colchester, for just over a year.
Last month, however, she was given the shock of her life when she walked into her kitchen to make a coffee, only to be confronted with a gang of scurrying rats.
After trying to defend herself against the long-tailed vermin she rushed upstairs and packed a bag of clothes before sprinting out of the home before 7.30am.
Teresa, who suffers from depression, said: “I whacked one with a potato masher and it went flying – it was a big fat one and it was running towards me.
“I was in a state of terror and I could not go to work because I was in such a mess. In my entire life I have never known anything like this – I am traumatised.”
After reporting the issue, Eastlight Community Homes arranged for a pest control team to visit the home and quell the infestation.