For all those people who claim that alternate weekly residual waste collection has given rise in Oxford to a plague of rats and who believe they can demonstrate that by pointing to the 5% increase in the number of callouts to the council's pest control department in the second half of the year (despite a 20% drop in the first half of the year) comes less comforting news from elsewhere in the country:

BBC NEWS | England | Shropshire | Rat complaints double in a year:

Mr Rodgers says other areas have experienced the same problem

Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council received 118 calls in 2006 and they have had 255 so far in 2007.

Rat-catcher Geoff Rodgers said the animals love decking, water features and bird seed but he believes climate change is also a factor.

"We've seen a marked increase this year in the amount of calls this autumn but this area is no different to other areas in the country," he said.

He added: "They've all experienced the same problem. It's just something that we have got to work with and bear in mind.

"With climate change these creatures adapt to it like they adapt to other things."