BUSINESS owners are calling on residents to take responsibility for their rubbish or risk being ‘overrun by rats'.

Bryan Galloway, who runs saddle makers J Houghton and Son in Bolton Road, Darwen said a customer saw 16 rats on the car park outside his business.

Mr Galloway said: “In the last two months people have been seeing loads of them.

“A customer was telling me he was counting rats, while he was sat on the car park behind my building and he counted 16.

“I have seen a lot of them in the streets at the back of Bridge Street because there’s always rubbish there.

“When I was out working in our warehouse on Bridge Street one ran in and ran right over my foot, they aren’t even scared.

“I’m not sure about the rest of Darwen, I can only speak for this area, but we are in danger of being overrun by rats.

“The problem isn’t just in our area, it’s happening all over Darwen and it’s caused by people dropping rubbish.

“At one point there were 14 bags on the street for about six weeks.

“The council are making an effort, in the last couple of weeks they’ve been really good about collecting them, but that doesn’t solve the rat problem.”

Derek Whittaker of Darwen Angling Centre said he had seen the ‘huge’ rats in the middle of the day.

He said: “They have been coming from some rubbish that has been left on the street.

“I have seen them running around at night on my CCTV. I’ve only seen one during the day but it was huge and they aren’t scared of humans because we’re the ones feeding them.”

This comes after Cllr Paul Browne accused Blackburn with Darwen Council of failing to act over the long-standing rat problem in Bold Venture Park.

Darwen mayor Cllr Roy Davies said the problem will only be solved if everyone plays their part.

He said: “If people didn’t just dump their bin bags and used the system properly we wouldn’t have rats.

“Everyone has got to play their part if we want to get rid of them.”

Tony Watson, head of service for environment and public protection at the council, said: “Behaviour such as littering and dropping food not only blights communities by making them look messy and unsightly, but can also attract pests.

“This is not acceptable and spoils communities for the law-abiding majorities who care about their areas.

“New enforcement in the borough means you may be caught in the act and end up with a penalty of £75, so littering like this is not really worth it.

“The council is willing to help businesses with pest control issues people can call 01254 585397 if they have any queries.”