A RAT loose in a Rickmansworth supermarket on Sunday, December 9, gave shoppers cause for concern.

The vermin entered Tesco in Harefield Road after a member of staff left a door open at the store, which backs on to the Grand Union Canal.

However, its shopping trip was cut short when a member of staff gave it a supermarket chase and caught it in just five minutes.

A spokesman for Tesco explained all the stores have bait stations, small traps with poison, to keep pests away. However, she explained that rats were a particular problem at the canal.

When a door at the back of the store was left open for a moment, the rat ran on to the sales floor. The member of staff on the door chased the rat and, after it had been caught, the store called Rentokil, which laid down extra traps around the store.

The Tesco spokesman said: "We are very grateful to our member of staff who gave chase so quickly."

December 14, 2001 13:00