Tower Hamlets Pest Control News:
Mice close Tower Hamlets eating premises by paulg on 07/05/2012 |
Health inspectors for Tower Hamlets council recently found a mouse happily munching away on dropped food in the kitchen of eating premises in Tower Hamlets, during a routine inspection. They managed to photograph the rodent just before it jumped and scampered along a draining pipe in the kitchen and out through a hole in the wall of the restaurant. But there were more shocks in store for them as they continued. Under a pile of unused table cloths and carpet in a store room, they also found cockroaches. Mice droppings were found all over the kitchen including inside the fridges, on crockery, in sauce containers and on a chopping board next to some meat. The hygiene was so bad that the ventilation hood above the ovens was not working and was dripping with grease. The restaurant was promptly shut down. Photographs taken at the time of inspection also show cockroaches living in broken fridge seals. Pretty much the whole kitchen was covered in grease and grime, with cracked tiles and stained walls everywhere. The owner was arrested and charged with 7 counts of breaching food hygiene regulations and 3 health and safety laws. Environmental officers from the council said the conditions were disgraceful and branded the premises an appalling risk to the safety of customers. They said "Amazingly and thankfully, there have been no reports or evidence of any actual illness being suffered by customers." The premises have since reopened after a forced closure and a refurbishment and are now being closely monitored by the council. The owner was given a four month jail term suspended for 2 years. He was also ordered to pay fines totalling £10,000 plus £4,124 costs. The judge said if he had not pleaded guilty he would have gone to prison immediately. He will have his licence to cater taken away from him for good if these conditions are found associated with any of his businesses in the future. |
Bed bugs in Tower Hamlets by paulg on 15/03/2012 |
We all know, or have heard about, bed bugs. Tower Hamlets in recent years has seen an increase in the number of reported bed bug problems to the council and pest control companies. Bed bugs have always been in Tower Hamlets and always will be there’s no doubt about it. But why has the problem been getting worse? The answer may lie in the increased number of migrants that the UK, especially London, have seen in the last twenty years. This and the number of houses being turned in to bed-sit flats, with many different people moving in and out at a fast turn around and the number of hostels appearing to house the immigrants, makes travelling life for the bed bug much easier than it was in the late eighties and early nineties. This is not putting sole blame on the immigrants, but with the amount of different countries that are coming to the country, it is inevitable that a few foreign bodies will travel with them. Once in the country the ease of transfer from one place to another is remarkably simple. Every style of transport that we use, from walking to flying, the bed bugs are using. And the problem doesn’t stop there. Research has shown that different bed bugs from different parts of the world react to different treatments in different ways. This means that when a property is treated, it is now harder to get rid of the bed bugs than before. It can now take 3-4 visits in some cases to get on top of the problem. Faced with this apparently new resistance to some insecticides, pest control companies are having to adopt new strategies. Law and regulations prevent pest controllers from using a mixture of insecticides at the same time. One form of insecticide can be used on the first visit to kill as many live bed bugs as possible. On the second visit, 2 to 3 weeks later, a different insecticide can be used such as an insect growth regulator which prevents any emerging young from reaching adulthood and being able to breed. In many cases nowadays, in hostels and bed and breakfasts, it is not unusual for the owners to have to throw heavily infested furniture away. This has to be done by a professional rubbish clearance company as it has to be incinerated. If things are left to get to this state it can be very costly to the owner. You should always call a pest control company at the first sign of bed bugs because of there ability to spread quickly and breed in vast numbers. |