A woman who withheld her council tax after claiming that a decision to collect rubbish only twice a month had led to a rat infestation in her home yesterday claimed a moral victory in her battle with the authorities.

A judge sympathised with Frances Kennett, 62, of Oxford, who has refused to pay £181 she owes in council tax.

She appeared before District Judge Brian Loosley, who said he was obliged by law to impose a liability order on her for the amount she owes Oxford City Council. However, he suggested that there was a direct link between the rats in her home and the council’s recycling drive and asked environmental health officers to help her to resolve the situation.

He said: “I have every sympathy with her with regard to the rat infestation she has, which appears to be caused by the council’s decision to move to fortnightly waste collections.”

Dr Kennett, a fundraiser for the University of Oxford, said she had lived in her Victorian terrace house in the up-market Jericho district of the city for nine years, but it was not until January this year that she noticed the rats.

She told the court that the infestation in her house came after the council moved from weekly to fortnightly waste collections in October. She withheld one month’s tax in protest, claiming that she now has to take her rubbish to the dump herself and has had to hire pest-control contractors.

The court was told that she is now forced to make an eight-mile round trip to the local rubbish dump each week, to prevent the rotting waste from piling up.

Dr Kennett, who was summoned by Oxford City Council for nonpayment of council tax, said it was an “embarrassing day” for the authority.

In a statement to the court, she said: “The council have failed to give me a proper waste collection service since October 2006. I have, as a direct result of this, had rats in my house since early spring and the council’s rodent prevention officers have been unable to solve the problem.

“I have now engaged a private contractor for long-term rodent treatment. By the council’s reckoning, the cost of one such visit from a contractor is estimated at £200. This exceeds the monthly council tax sum of £181 due on my property.”

She referred to a government select committee report, which stated that fortnightly waste collections were not suitable for the kind of densely populated areas with multiple occupancies in the rented sector in which she lives.

She added: “The council is not maintaining standards that ensure public health and cleanliness. No outside agency has the right to reduce my personal standards of housekeeping and hygiene. This is a failure of the service contracted between community and council paid for from council tax.”

Dr Kennett said that two neighbouring houses were now also infested with rats. “The neighbourhood is blighted, which will reduce the resale value of my home,” she added.

Judge Loosley said the law dictated that if the council could prove it was owed money, then he had no choice but to impose an order on Dr Kennett. “I have no discretion and I have to make a liability order. However, in the circumstances I consider it wrong for me to award any costs against Dr Kennett and, although I have no powers in the matter, I would hope that the city council, and particularly the environmental health department, would contact Dr Kennett to discuss her problem before taking any further enforcement action.”

Dr Kennett said: “The council is intransigent in its denial of any connection between the fortnightly waste collections and the increase of vermin in the city, claiming that the city has always had a rat problem. If this is the case, they have been negligent in introducing a system that has exacerbated the problem.”

The judge revealed that, as a resident of West Oxfordshire, he still had weekly waste collections in his area.

“I’m glad to hear it,” said Dr Kennett.

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