A grandmother has called for a children’s play area to be shut down until the rats infesting it are exterminated.

Patricia Seabrooke and her three grandchildren – aged one, three and ten years - were sitting down to a winter picnic by the play area in Romsey’s War Memorial Park when a score of uninvited guests turned up.

“The ten-year-old said ‘look grandma, there’s a rat’. It was only two or three feet away.” said Mrs Seabrooke, from West Dean.

Mrs Seabrooke gathered up their picnic things and left the play area.

“I left some beakers on the table and when I looked back there were rats all over the table,” she said. “They were amongst the play equipment and everywhere.”

Mrs Seabrooke, who has reported last week’s incident to Test Valley Borough Council’s environmental health department, counted 20 of the rodents, some of which she estimated to be around nine inches in length, not including their tails.

“I think the park or that area should be shut while this problem is sorted out,” said Mrs Seabrooke, who said she would not be returning there with her grandchildren.

“The three-year-old was quite frightened,” she said.

“I used to take my children to the park when they were little and we never saw a rat. If you can see 20 it makes you wonder just how many are there.”

Test Valley Borough councillor Dorothy Baverstock, who is chairman of the Friends of Romsey War Memorial Park, said she was “horrified” by the news.

After being informed of Mrs Seabrooke’s experience by the Advertiser she immediately contacted TVBC’s pest control department who informed her they would be laying down more rat poison in the park.

“It worries me that the rats are in the children’s play area. This is just horrific” said Mrs Baverstock.

She admitted that she had seen three rats when she ran a public consultation exercise in October on plans for remodelling the area around the entrance and the proposed new war horse statue.

In September we reported on warnings from TVBC for park visitors not to “overfeed” the ducks as rats were feasting on leftover bread and other scraps on the riverbank.

Mrs Baverstock restated that plea and also asked fishermen not to leave their bait behind.

The Lib Dem councillor added that TVBC’s decision to charge householders for its rat -catching service had led to a rise in the rodent population.

TVBC conformed that they had been notified on November 28 that rats had been seen in the park.

“As a result, two treatments were carried out last week and a further treatment will be undertaken this week,” said a council spokesman.

“The evidence suggests that there are not large numbers of rats in the area but we will continue to monitor the situation and lay bait until the treatment is completed, to help ensure any rats are removed.

“With the weather now much colder, the rats are searching for available food sources. We are doing everything we can to address the problem and would be extremely grateful if the public might temporarily refrain from feeding the ducks, as leftover bread provides an easy meal for rodents.

“New signage asking residents to avoid feeding the ducks and encouraging fishermen to remove unused bait will be installed in the park shortly. We will review the situation regularly and remove the signs when appropriate.”