ENVIRONMENTAL health bosses carried out an urgent inspection after rats were seen on Woodfields Retail Park in Bury which includes a drive-through McDonald's and a 24-hour Tesco store.

But management representatives from both the fast-food restaurant and supermarket have said that their customers were not at any risk.

Mrs Isabella Corrie, of Harris Drive, Sunny Bank, contacted the Bury Times after seeing two large rats on the McDonald's car park last week when taking her two grandchildren for a meal there.

She said: " I couldn't believe what I was seeing. At first I thought it was a small dog or cat, but then realised what they were.

"I shut the car door and left and didn't tell the children what I had seen. The girl would have had hysterics."

Mrs Corrie added: "You don't expect to see something like that."

A spokesman from the environmental health department confirmed they had received reports of sightings of rats.

He said: "We are investigating reports that rodents have been seen in the Woodfields area and will act on the results."

A spokesman for McDonald's said: "The problem appears to have come from a disused factory. The problem is restricted to land outside the premises.

"The environmental officer has put down bait boxes and that should solve the problem."

Tesco's representative said the supermarket was unaffected.