A disabled man has been sleeping rough at a lake because of a rat infestation in his house.

Darren walker, who lives in a flat in Shrivenham run by the housing association Stonewater, said he spends up to five days a week sleeping on a sun-lounger style chair in his fishing tent at Tuckers Pond.

Mr Walker reported a rat problem to Stonewater in January, citing the gaps in the structure of the property as the reason behind the rodent’s easy access.

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The long-time Oxfordshire resident said he first alerted the housing association to the structural issues – which affect his front door and porch - over three years ago, but that still nothing has been done to remedy it.

Mr Walker said: “Rats have been running up through the porchway and getting into the flat.

“They chew their way up through the wooden flooring. They’ve chewed through the skirting board, sofas, cushions.

“I can hear them in the walls at night.

“They even chewed the wires in my microwave so that when I went to use it one morning it just blew up on me.”  

Mr Walker worked as a roofer until 13 years ago when he suffered a fall which left him unable to work.

He damaged his spine, arms and legs, and now suffers from PTSD and epilepsy as a result of his accident.

Now getting by on benefits, Mr Walker said: “I’m spending more money than I usually would to feed myself, because I have to buy food to take with me to the lake.

“On top of that I have to pay for taxis to take me there, and then I have to buy gas for the cooker and bottles of water to drink.

“I strip wash with a bucket of water and some shower gel. And it’s all because I can’t be in that house anymore.”

Mr Walker said the house has become redolent of a hamster cage.

“Rats who have taken the poison I put down have died in the walls, and the living ones leave their droppings everywhere, so the place smells unbearable.

I have asthma, and because of the state of the house I’ve bought more asthma pumps in the last six months than I have in the past five years.

"On top of all this the boiler has been faulty for the last three months. The heating is stuck on the highest setting, so when I do have it on it is too hot in the flat, and my bills are ridiculous.”

Dave Lockerman, Director of Housing Operations at Stonewater said: “We are sorry that Mr Walker has experienced rats in his home and has also had an issue with the boiler.

“Both of which we have been unable to resolve as quickly as we would normally expect.”

After an investigation by the Oxford Mail, Stonewater are now putting Mr Walker up in a hotel for seven nights until they fix the problems with his property.

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Read more from this author

This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1

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