AN infestation of rats outside a fast food restaurant in Barrow has been caught on camera.

The rodent invasion near the McDonald’s in Hollywood Park was filmed by one customer who used the restaurant’s drive-thru on Saturday evening.

In the video, which has been seen more than 30,000 views, at least a dozen rats can be seen scurrying outside the Barrow eatery while customers are waiting to pick up their food.

A spokesman for retail park operator New River said: “We are aware of the issue and are working with the operator to begin an intensive treatment of the area and will continue to monitor the area to ensure it is clean and to a quality operational standard, such as locals would expect."

The customer who filmed the video said: “The drive-thru was packed and to be honest, no-one could have missed all them rats running around. I told someone who was walking past to be careful."

The Mail: A screenshot from a video showing a group of rats outside McDonald's in Hollywood ParkA screenshot from a video showing a group of rats outside McDonald's in Hollywood Park (Image: Newsquest)

McDonald’s bosses said external pest control experts visited the retail park last week to assess the situation and completed their work yesterday morning in putting preventative measures in place.

Pest control experts will continue to monitor the retail site, a spokesman said.

They added: “Hygiene and cleanliness are of the utmost importance to us, and pest control experts carry out regular routine checks of our Barrow restaurant and the surrounding area, which is standard practice, and helps ensure we maintain our food hygiene rating of five.

“We are aware of this issue that is affecting the wider retail park and have proactively engaged the park owners so they can arrange for the necessary action to be taken.”

Councillor Tony Callister, Barrow Borough Council's lead member for licensing, said officers from the public protection team will look into the issue.

He said: "Pest control is not a council service.

"Separately, no reports were made to the council about the appearance of rodents near to a food premises. However, officers from the public protection team will look into this matter."