LOCAL pest control company Prokill features in a new documentary... thanks to the Old Town rat problem.

The new BBC One series How Safe Is Your House? is hosted by Angelica Bell and investigates household safety and poor workmanship.

In the latest episode, which was shown on Monday, the production company follow the story of a Swindon family inundated with a rat problem which Justin Holloway, owner of Lydiard Millicent-based Prokill, and his team attempted to solve.

Justin said: “I heard that a production company were wanting to film a programme about how safe people’s houses are.

“Just by chance ,around the same time I had a call from a family in Old Town who had a rat problem. They were literally at their wits’ end. They were really desperate for some help. They had laid down traps and poison but the rats kept on getting in.

“They had been fighting against the invasion for more than two years with no luck, despite a huge effort on their part which involved many tons of concrete and multiple visits from pest controllers.

“The issue in these types of infestations is often related to the sewer infrastructure so a session with the sewer camera system was planned.

“Most pest controllers at this point would say that it was an issue for the utilities companies because they didn’t have a camera, but that wasn’t a problem for us.

“But with no access to the domestic side of the sewer system our only point of entry was the sewer main in the road and this was heavily congested.”

Finally, Prokill managed to solve the problem and will continue to work with the family, who live in St Margaret’s Road, Old Town, to make sure the rats do not return.

Justin said it was a surreal experience taking part in the programme.

He said: “They spent about 40 hours filming rushes, which they edited together.

“It was very exciting to be part of the show and showcase what we can do at Prokill, and also to show people how to deal with these kinds of problems.

“They’ll be back again later on to see what progress we made.

“It’s an odd and certainly non-linear world in TV.”

l For more information about Prokill, visit www.thames-west.prokill.co.uk.

l You can now catch the relevant episode by watching it online at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer.