A 94-YEAR-old widow has been left traumatised after rats ate her out of house and home – literally eating the food off her plate.

The partially-blind pensioner from Ammanford eventually forked out £240 on private exterminators and had to move in with family after Carmarthenshire county council repeatedly refused to deal with the problem at her local authority-owned home. “I came home again last week, but I’m still traumatised,” she told the Guardian.

“One day I made myself a ham sandwich, cut it into four pieces and ate one.

“When I went back there were only two left – the remains of a half-eaten piece was on the floor.

“The rat had taken it off the plate.”

Another Ammanford resident has paid out £1,280 in the last year.

“Rats are ruining my life and costing me a fortune,” she said.

PhilipDavies Carmarthenshire county council’s head of public protection said: “We’ll look at our response to both of these cases and make contact with both ladies, to address their concerns.”