LAST summer on the last day of school I came home and my mother told me at least two rats have been in our garden.

Not knowing how big the problem was I thought it would be just a one-off.

During that first week we saw rats come in our garden and how disturbing this was.

Later I heard that my next door neighbour was also having the same recurring problem. So we decided to call the rat catcher, and in fact we did a couple of times!

After a couple of weeks we saw less and less of the rats. When they had finally disappeared we learned that there was a family of about seven or eight.

Not long after that, my friend and I started finding carcases of the dead rats which did put up a smell. The last two weeks, I have found rat poison not to mention two rats down Innox Road. I do hope this will stop soon for safety and hygiene reasons.

MATTHEW BARLOW (aged 12),

Cranmore Close,

Trowbridge.