‘Nightmare’ Neighbour fined for rat infested garden in Melton Mowbray

Richard Bates’s garden was so overgrown council workers found a rat’s nest inside (Picture: Melton Borough Council)

A man has been handed a court bill for £1,200 for failing to tidy his ‘nightmare’ overgrown garden.

Richard Bates, who lives in Melton Mowbray near Leicester, was approached by his local council in September 2024 over the overgrown vegetation at the front of his house.

He later got formal warnings and a fixed penalty notice, before council workers eventually moved in to tidy up the site.