Pest Control In Manchester & Other Large Cities by Ken Chadwick
Big city pest control brings its own set of special circumstances which sometimes require a different approach to smaller and quieter towns.
Firstly the very logistics of working in a busy big city can be problematic, even the basics of parking your van near the customers’ premises can be difficult especially when equipment needs to be carried. This can lea
d to increased charges which have to be passed onto the customer and sometimes these can be substantial.
Premises are often open seven days a week and even twenty-four hours a day thus leaving little opportunity for the pest controller to go about his work.
This may not cause too much difficulty in routine preventative inspection visits but can cause extreme problems when infestation is detected in that often pesticides require premises to be vacated for a period of time.
Big towns & cities usually have a large number of takeaways providing food to eat on the go and often will be littered overnight with uneaten food scraps providing food for rats, pigeons and seagulls which have now moved inland.
Often daily waste collections mean that bagged food waste is put outside overnight thus encouraging rodents.
Pigeons & Seagulls are obviously a nuisance with their noise and fouling but often will take food stuffs up onto roofs and ledges causing a build up of rotten materials which produce flies and maggots.
Pigeons will often roost and nest in roof spaces for many years leading to a large build up of pigeon guano and often their droppings can make the walkways below slippery and dangerous.
Most big cities have a varied ethnic mix with a variety of shops and restaurants supplying foods from all over the world. Often these foods are imported in bulk from countries where pests such as cockroaches are endemic and these pests are then brought into the U.K. hidden away in the goods and packaging.
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of big city pest control is the resurgence of the bed bug which in recent years has seen numbers rise exponentially.
A high transient population of visitors often staying in inexpensive, high turnover accommodation means that the bugs can spread quickly throughout a city and even expensive upmarket establishments are not exempt.
The very nature of a bed bug infestation means that it is difficult and expensive to cure and news of infestation is often of interest to local press who will often carry a story about a guest being bitten, thus ruining the reputation of the establishment.
Bed bug infestations require that the infested bedroom and those adjacent be treated thus losing revenue for the establishment.
