A MAN who fished a dead rat from his toilet says his council-run block has become a vermin-ridden “prison”.

Dennis Leeman, 63, lives in a flat in Preston Road, Brighton, where many of the tenants are disabled.

He said: “I’m basically a prisoner in my own home. I’ve had a leg amputation, a stroke left me unable to use my hand and I can’t get up and down the stairs unassisted. I’m not in a position to chase the rats round with a broom like in a cartoon.

“I feel powerless. When you’re missing a leg every single thing becomes a huge job. I hear them scrambling about in the cavity by my bedside, but I can’t do anything about it.

“Last week I lifted up the loo seat to find one floating in my toilet bowl.”

Mr Leeman said there had been a “mass exodus of rats jumping the fence” after a nearby building was demolished and they were massing in the empty flat below him.

He said: “The waste pipe from my loo comes up from the flat below. I’m convinced they crawl up the drain pipe. I had to use a grabbing tool to fish out the dead rat from the loo.

“I phoned the city council’s pest controllers and they said it would cost £100 to put traps in. But we’re all disabled here, on benefits. Nobody wants rats where they live but we’ve not got money to throw about. I can’t work.

“Everyone in the block is affected. I’m a bit rough and ready. I used to work as a welder on the London Underground, so I’m used to rats. They don’t freak me out but there’s a disabled single mother upstairs who’s terrified and a bedridden guy downstairs who’s plagued by them.”

“I’ve been sent back and forth by the council. They’ve been aware for a while, and they’ve been told by several people. I don’t understand why they’ve left the place below empty for months when there’s such a long waiting list in this city.

“If it was a private let you’d never stand it. It’s a council property with rats – surely it’s down to the council to deal with the problem, not disabled residents. It’s pretty basic stuff. It’s not like we’re asking for any huge favours. I just don’t want rats running about and crawling up the toilet.”

A council spokeswoman said: “Tenants are generally responsible for dealing with pests in their homes.

“However, following complaints raised from residents in this property, we investigated and discovered an infestation in the garden, which we are currently trying to deal with. We are also sending our drainage team to investigate and have arranged for overgrown areas of the large garden to be cut back. We will ensure that Mr Leeman and other residents are kept updated.”