Devious Mr Ratty was finally caught on camera after suspicious resident Adrian Whitfield set up a webcam in the bin!

Adrian, 57, of Downs Road, was amazed the rat was managing to squeeze through small gaps next to the hinges of the bin lid.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw the footage," he said. "My wife, Lorraine, had said she thought rats were getting in the bin.

"I saw some of the bags had been a bit nibbled, but we had put a brick on the lid so I couldn't work out how they were getting in.

"There are holes by the handle, but only 17.5 millimetres wide. It seemed strange so I put the camera in the bin. It was the only way I could prove it.

"I played it back the next day and there was the rat inside."

Adrian, who is part of the William Parker College maintenance team, went on: "I also took video of the back of the bin and captured the rat running up against the wall to get in.

"It comes back regularly, every time I have had the camera out I have caught it.

"It's amazing when you look at the size of the rat and the fact it manages to squeeze through this hole. You'd expect a mouse to manage it, but not a rat.

"The designers of the bins have left them with their own way in without having to lift the lid!"

Unfortunately for this particular rat burglar, the game is up.
The Whitfields plan to move the bin away from the wall and find something to block the holes up with.

A Hastings Borough Council spokesman said: "These bins have been designed to be pretty resilient to pests, although it is important to keep the lids shut.

"The holes by the hinges are really tiny and we've only had one report of a very small field mouse squeezing in, which we captured and released back into the wild.

"This is the first time we've heard of a rat getting in through these tiny holes in any of the 52,000 bins we've handed out since September.

"In fact the incidents of animals getting into rubbish generally have actually decreased since rubbish is no longer stored on the pavement in flimsy bags and this is reflected by our cleaner streets."