THIS is the moment that a gigantic rat forced a group of Birmingham binmen to run for their lives.
The East Midlands city is in the midst of a grueling bin strike which residents have compared to the Winter of Discontent.
CCTV footage captured the moment that the rats jumped out from one of the huge piles of rubbish on the floor.
Caught off guard, one of the binmen jumped into the air as the rat scurried around his feet.
One by one, the binmen started running away as the giant rodent began to circle.
The entire mound of rubbish was quickly abandoned after the waste collectors rounded the corner and escaped.
In escaping the rat, the binmen had also run away from the garbage truck which they were using to clean up the bin bags.
Joined by another one of its furry friends, the rat eventually scurried into the rancid pile of trash and vanished.
Birmingham has been battling soaring numbers of the creepy crawlies who are living in the city’s mounds of uncollected rubbish.
Dubbed the Squeaky Blinders in a cheeky reference to the gang who inspired the BBC drama, the rats have become an all too familiar sight.
On Monday, a major incident was declared after the bin strike in the area reached its 25th day.
There is now an estimated 17,000 tonnes of uncollected rubbish on the streets of Birmingham after the council suggested that the striking binmen were preventing waste trucks from leaving the depot.
The strike kicked off after the Unite union said its members were facing pay cuts of £8000 per year.
However, Birmingham City Council have disputed Unite’s claims and have insisted that their plans to restructure the bin collection service are essential for getting the authority on a stable financial footing.
The Council were slapped with a £790 million bill in September 2023, which came after they overspent by £80 million on an IT project.
Effectively declared bankrupt, Birmingham City Council was forced to find a way to save money.
The government has weighed in on the issue and demanded that Unite start negotiations with Birmingham City Council.
A Number 10 spokesman said: “The residents of Birmingham are our first and foremost priority, and as you will have seen, the local government minister Jim McMahon was in Birmingham yesterday meeting council leaders and commissioners to discuss the council’s response and make sure this is being gripped.
“Following that meeting, police have installed barriers at the picket line to prevent waste lorries being recklessly blocked from leaving the depots this morning to start dealing with the backlog.
“Unite need to focus on negotiating in good faith, drop their opposition to changes needed to resolve long-standing equal pay issues, and get round the table with the council to bring this strike to an end.”
Birmingham has also been rocked by a wave of shop closures, with popular shopping centre The Square shutting suddenly in March.
An inspection found that the centre had an immediate fire risk, forcing every business there to close.
B&M announced that they had been forced to shut down their branch, as developers said the closure of the shopping centre would go on “indefinitely”.
Bin strikes and rat swarms in Birmingham
A bin strike in Birmingham has caused 17,000 tonnes of rubbish to pile up in the city.
The strike began on March 11, when the Unite union kicked back at the City Council’s cuts to waste collection.
In a bid to save money, the council announced plans to cut waste collection and recycling officer roles.
In September 2023, the council had been slapped with a £790 million bill which left them essentially bankrupt.
In an effort to support their strike, the binmen have begun blocking emergency waste trucks from leaving the depot.
This has caused the rubbish piles to grow even larger, which have become the ideal breeding grounds for swarms of cat-sized rats.
No.10 Downing Street has weighed in on the issue and demanded that Unite meet Birmingham City Council at the negotiating table.
For now, the strike has entered its 30th day and the piles of rubbish have grown even higher.
