A FAMILY too frightened to use their garden are accusing their housing association of ignoring them and their safety concerns.

Vermin, rubbish and overgrown bushes, hedges and grass are the sights that single mother Surinder Kaur and her two children have to experience daily when they look at their back garden in Fairdale Gardens, Hayes.

After seeing rats scuttle from the thick undergrowth, children Asmit Kaur, 8, and Sumit Singh, 15, are afraid to use the garden for fear of being bitten.

Mrs Kaur said: "It's a real mess. The children don't want to play outside any more so we get no benefit from the garden at all."

The family has even had to keep the back door closed all the time after a rat recently entered the house.

After months of trying to get help from West Hampstead Housing Association, 35-year-old Mrs Kaur has now turned to Sanjeev Kumar, her landlord, for help.

Mr Kumar said: "According to the agreement, it's not my responsibility.

"I have spoken to the association and Hillingdon Council more than 20 times with no response. I even had a council representative come down here who agreed that the situation was bad and promised to put pressure on the association, but that was nearly two months ago.

"They just can't be bothered."

Mrs Kaur claims that the garden has become such an eyesore that neighbours often take advantage and dump their own green waste there, intensifying the rat problem.

The council failed to respond before the Times went to press.

By.Michael Lau