Rats have been spotted in an area of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital grounds.

They are occupying undergrowth in a rest area next to a car park behind the medical physics department.

On Tuesday afternoon they were seen clambering along branches and scuttling around under hedges and in grass in an area near a memorial tree, benches and a picnic table.

Earlier this month the East Kent Hospitals Trust claimed it was unaware of rats on K&C grounds and insisted there were no sources of food for them there.

However, people living in Underwood Close, which is off Nackington Road and backs on to the hospital, complain they regularly see fat brown rats on its grounds.

They say the rats are attracted by food dropped by people using a large car park between the picnic area and hospital buildings or are feasting on berries from bushes in the grounds.

At least one woman has reported the rats to hospital bosses and to the environmental health department at Canterbury City Council.

This follows an infestation of rats on the footpath and cycle route which links Stuppington Lane and the Simon Langton Boys School. Path users blame a new 250-space car park built for hospital staff over the summer for disturbing habitats.

Julie Oates, the city council’s environmental protection manager, says rats migrate to fruit-bearing bushes at this time of year. Hedges on the hospital grounds and along the footpath are both full of berries.

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Mrs Oates said: “At this time of year when it’s getting colder it’s natural for them to start looking for sheltered areas such as bushes.

“They will look for a food supply. It’s very easy for them to climb up to get to berries in the bushes.

“There has also been a lot of disruption in that area with the new hospital car park, the ploughed farmers’ fields nearby and I believe the Langton is developing a new sports field.

“The human element may play a part as rats will eat almost anything, so if there are crisp packets and the like left around they may eat from them.”

The council has placed traps along the footpath containing poison mixed with food.

Celia Glynn-Williams, the council’s head of communications, said: “We have already picked up a number of dead rats and are monitoring the situation along the footpath carefully.

“In terms of the rats on the hospital premises, we’ll have a word with them but this would be for them to take action as they are on their grounds.”

The East Kent Hospitals Trust was asked for a comment on the rats, but failed to respond.

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