A young family have quit their Bradford home to live with relatives in Glasgow after rats gnawed their way into their newborn baby's bedroom.

The baby's grandfather Abdul Ghaffar Soofi, 50, said his daughter-in-law Naghma fled with his two-week-old grandson Danish as she feared the vermin would get into the cot and bite the child while he slept.

Mr Soofi claimed the rats were getting into his and neighbours' houses from piles of rubbish mounting up outside a rented house next door to his home in Manchester Road, Bradford.

He said: "We have rats running about all the time in the house. Even when we can't see them, we can hear them. We have to clean all the surfaces in the house first thing in the morning and last thing at night."

Residents have sent petitions to Bradford Council's cleansing and environmental health departments as well as to ward councillor Ian Greenwood calling for help.

Some people living in nearby Roxby Street said the problem has got so bad over the last six months that they do not open their back doors due to the stink, and others do not let their children play out because of rotting food, old furniture and clothing, and decaying mattresses. According to residents, the Council has twice attempted to move some of the bags but has never cleared the whole lot.

Shift-worker Ubaid Asdhar, 27, who lives on the other side of the rented house, said the smell from the split bags made him feel ill.

Another resident, Patricia Cooney, 58, said she was fed up with the rubbish and its smell.

Former bank manager Mohammad Ikram, 63, who collected signatures for the petition, said: "All we are asking for is to lead our lives in a safe healthy environment but we can't do that while all this rubbish is left here.

"We're not blaming the Council for this problem but we want it to put pressure on the landlord to get rid of the mess."

A Council spokesman said an environmental health officer will visit the property. "The officer will assess the problem and ensure the necessary action is quickly taken to clean up the yard and roadside and also deal with any rodent infestation," he said. "We will also be contacting the tenant concerned to prevent any further problems with rubbish."

Little Horton ward councillor and Labour group leader, Coun Greenwood, said: "It's disgraceful that people should have to wait so long and have so much hassle before the Council carries out a basic service that should have been done after the very first phone call."

Patricia Cooney and Mohammad Ikram are pictured at the rubbish site.