A Harrogate problem: How would you tackle a rat in a Range Rover?

The car was a bit of a mess; all the electric cables chewed through, but the mum took appropriate action by calling in a pest control expert.David Ellis, the owner of Harrogate family firm Active Pest Solutions, had seen - and tackled it - all before.A past assignment had even seen him deal with squirrels in the attic and a wasp nest in someone’s suitcase.The Harrogate Advertiser asked him for his top five most unusual pest experiences - and David kindly obliged.

Top 5 pest problems in Harrogate(as experienced by David Ellis of Active Pest Solutions of Harrogate)1. Wasp in a suitcaseA customer was getting his suitcases out of the attic before a holiday when noticed a wasp coming out of it. I found a wasp nest which was approximately 12 inches round inside the corner of the suitcase. It was then treated and removed.2 Squirrels in the atticWe took a call from a customer who had squirrels who had gnawed through a plastic water pipe causing a severe leak in her attic. We evicted the squirrel from the loft.3 Rat in the kitchenOne customer had a rat in her kitchen which managed to remove a whole loaf of bread from her kitchen cupboard, leaving just the empty bag on the floor. We put tracked the dust down and were able to follow its tracks.4 Bats in the belfryI was called to bats in a church tower which we could not touch because they were protected but they were flying around the church on a night causing a lot of mess.5. Rats in the shopA shop in Harrogate called us which had unwanted visitors entering its basement store room via the toilet. The rats had been tried to escape the sewers after flooding.We dealt fitted a device in the main drain outside which stopped the rats travelling down the sewage pipe and entering the building.