RATS put one of York's rising bollards out of action for three weeks when they gnawed through its cables.

Now a community leader is urging fellow residents to take more care when putting out rubbish in an attempt to discourage vermin from frequenting the area.

"I think it's a warning sign," said Keith Chapman, chairman of Nunnery Area Residents' Association, after rodents chomped their way through the wires in the bollard at Victoria Bar, off Nunnery Lane.

"It was just one of those things where it sent alarm bells ringing."

A spokeswoman for City of York Council explained how rats gnawing the bollard's cables had been a recurring problem in recent months.

"It has happened on at least four occasions, and the source of the problem was pinpointed to a nearby collapse in the sewer, which was enabling the rats to access the chamber at the base of the bollard," she said.

"In fact, it was established that they had made a nest in there. The bollard has been out of action for around three weeks so the sewer collapse could be fixed and pest control could be called in to remove the nest.

"It was essential we tackled the underlying cause of the problem, rather than just repairing the cables. This work is now complete and the bollard is up and running again."

Mr Chapman called for a local rubbish awareness campaign after several residents had spotted rats running around the area.

"Everybody has to play their part," he said. "What's happening is rubbish in black bags is brought out well before the collection date.

"There is food here. What the rats do is at one, two, three and four in the morning they feed off the food that's left.

"Otherwise they would go back to where they came from. We're encouraging them by leaving food.

"It's becoming a problem because people are just dumping bags anywhere.

We've all got to take on a little bit of responsibility.

We're all responsible for each other's welfare and how we keep things tidy."

Updated: 11:40 Friday, May 19, 2006