Mountains of trash and 'cat-size' rats as garbage workers strike in U.K.'s second-largest city
In Britain's second largest city of Birmingham, a long running strike by garbage truck workers has led to huge piles of trash and a rat infestation.
BIRMINGHAM, England — A thick stench filled the air as Ghulam Murtaza Qureshi pointed to the huge pile of garbage rotting steps away from the entrance of his fast-food joint in Birmingham, Britain’s second-largest city.
“How can I open my shop now?” Qureshi, 49, told NBC News last week. “It’s a food business, and there’s rubbish everywhere.”
Worse than the pungent smell, he said, were the “rats and mice,” whose population has grown exponentially as the thousands of tons of waste have gotten bigger and bigger during a six-week standoff between striking garbage truck workers and the Birmingham City Council over pay. “It’s now a health issue,” Qureshi said.
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