She admits that she is petrified of rats but that didn’t stop an angry mum from confronting a rodent that bit her son - armed with a vacuum cleaner.

Mum-of-four Alison Law was awoken in the early hours of Wednesday (November 26) morning when her terrified ten-year-old son, Charlie Mouncer, ran into her bedroom complaining he had been bitten by a rat.

Married Mrs Law says her son has still not returned to his bed since the vermin’s appearance at 4.30am.

She said: “My son came screaming into me saying he had felt something crawling on his face and he turned round and saw the rat.

“It then ran under the bed after biting him on the arm.

“I just saw red because we have had problems with rats since we moved into our house seven years ago.

“There had been one in the house for a while before this happened and I just wanted to sort the problem out once and for all.”

Mrs Law, who runs an ironing business, says she immediately shut the door to the bedroom in the house in Nelson Road, Bromley.

With the animal trapped, an incensed Mrs Law killed the cornered animal with her vacuum cleaner.

She claims the brown rat was the size of a size 6 shoe, around 10 inches in length.

The 37-year-old added: “This isn’t the first time this has happened. I had to kill another rat in the garden last year.

“We have tried to get rid of them for years but they just keep coming back.

“I’m petrified of rats but it had just bitten my son and I had just had enough - it was instinct I suppose.

“We still have poison in our kitchen and garden because of the problem in the area. People told us when we moved in that the problem with rats is because of the dump in Waldo Road.”

After the incident, Charlie, who is a pupil at St George’s Primary School in Tylney Road, Bickley, was taken to the A&E department at the Princess Royal University Hospital in Farnborough where doctors bandaged his wound and gave him antibiotics.

He is expected to make a full recovery from his ordeal.

Bromley Council, which runs the Waldo Road reuse and recycling centre, says that all food should be kept out of the reach of pests.

Anyone who does find rats or other vermin in and around their home should contact Bromley Council on 020 8313 4830.

Bromley Council have been contacted about the problem of rats around Waldo Road.