The 28-year-old, of Westwood Road, Castleford, has hit out at Wakefield and District Housing (WDH) for failing to clean up the "rat-infested" pile of grit, branches and bricks in his back garden – which he says has been there since he moved in a year ago.

He claims that eight weeks ago, he stepped on a needle and needed hospital treatment after trying to clean up the rubbish himself and is calling for WDH to sort out the problem.

Mr Flowers said: "It's an absolute disgrace. I have a one-year old son and I can't let him play outside with that in the back garden. There are rats all over and the pile of rubbish is full of fag ends, bin bags and needles. I've even been stabbed with one.

"I've called WDH 11 or 12 times this year, and every day this past week on top of that. "Someone has even been out to see us and said they would sort it, but we're still waiting. It seems like we're getting nowhere."

Mark Trafford, area manager for WDH, said: "We visited Mr Flowers on Tuesday to apologise for the delay and have explained that the garden will be cleared next week."