Gran 'trapped inside home' by swarm of pigeons who keep targeting her back garden

A plague of pigeons are stopping a gran from using her own garden as they keep pooing everywhere, and she believes solar panels are to blame.

Louise Johnson can't hang up her clothes or let her grandson run around outside at her council home because of the amount of faeces and feathers that are scattered all over the ground.

The 48-year-old says there are about 50 pigeons living on her roof and it is a "living nightmare", reports HullLive.

Louise believes the problem could have started when solar panels were installed on the roof.

The gran lives with multiple health conditions and is currently undergoing chemotherapy and says her "body can't take it".

Louise has lived in the property for 11 years (Katie Pugh)

She said: "It's absolutely disgraceful.

"I don't like living like this. I should be entitled to my garden for me and my daughter, and her friends, and my grandson and that.

"But it's out of bounds, it's disgusting."

Pigeons have plagued her home for the last five summers and despite the council saying "it will be getting done" Louise said trying to contact her local authority about the problem is "like talking to a brick wall".

She added: "It should have been solved by now.

"I'm not sleeping because of the noise of the pigeons, everything is just like a nightmare."

Louise has even considered leaving her home, but insists it's the pigeons that should be forced to move on, not her.

"I've been here 11 years, why should I?" she said.

Louise says more than 50 pigeons live on her roof - and thinks the solar panels could be to blame (Katie Pugh)

A Hull City Council spokesman said back in April: "The solar panels were installed in 2012. In 2019, netting was fitted to the panels to prevent birds from nesting under them – this netting can be seen in the video.

"Solar panels offer fantastic benefits for tenants, significantly reducing their energy bills. Solar panels also benefit the environment by providing clean energy.

"We will be sending a surveyor to the property to further investigate the issue."

Louise "was correct" that netting was installed in 2019, but "the pigeons got underneath and so they lived there again".

She also said she had not had a surveyor visit the property since April.

The Mirror has contacted Hull Council for comment.