Mum says mice infestation at council house has been '˜living hell'

Georgia Mattingley, 21, moved into the property on Cherry Tree Grove, Mastin Moor, four weeks ago but has only been able to live there for around two weeks because of the problem.

She says her two daughters - three-year-old Daniella and eight-month-old Eva - have not been able to sleep and she is worried that Christmas will be ruined.

And Georgia also claims that Chesterfield Borough Council told her that it was still okay for her to live there.

“It has been a living hell,” she said.

“Daniella is petrified. You cannot really explain what the situation is.”

Due to the mice, Georgia and her two children have been forced to live with her mum Kim - causing Daniella to miss some of school because Kim does not live in the area.

Georgia said that one mouse ran under her bed, and she has seen another one in the living room, kitchen and cupboard and found a dead rat on her kitchen floor.

They are believed to be getting into the house through a hole in a wall in the kitchen.

Pest control teams have been out to the house three times.

“I am a little bit traumatised by it,” Georgia said. “It is an awful situation to be in. It has affected us all.”

Helen Bagley, the borough council’s cabinet member for homes and customers, said: “Our housing repair team has carried out work to identify and deal with the cause of the problem. This has included clearing the drain and then working back along it until a hole was found in the pipework underneath the back garden.

“Repairing this will require digging up the back garden so we have arranged for a team with a mini excavator to visit the property to do this work.

“In the meantime our pest control service has visited the property on several occasions to put down bait to control the problem until the drain repair can be carried out.”