Mice filmed in fast-food store

FAST-FOOD restaurant Quick has moved to call in rat-catchers after a customer posted pictures of mice running about behind the counter at one shop.

The pictures from @Clouzal on Twitter and Facebook show about half a dozen mice scuttling about in the kitchen beside the cash machines in the restaurant in Belleville in the 20th arrondissement in Paris.

They provoked an immediate response from internet viewers, with one rewording the firm's advertising slogan Quick nous c'est le goût [Quick, for us it's the taste] to become Quick nous c'est l'égoût [Quick, for us it's the sewer].

Today the company said it had a permanent contract with a pest control firm which made regular checks. It has called them in for immediate action to clean up the Belleville store.

It said in a statement: "This type of pest is not restricted to fast-food restaurants but is a real problem for all large commercial businesses in the major towns of France."

Quick has been in the spotlight since the death of a teenage boy from food poisoning after eating in one of the firm's cafes in Avignon last year.

The company has 350 restaurants in France and is No2 in fast-food behind McDonald's, which has 1,230. Its turnover slumped 6% after the boy's death, to e761 million in 2011.

See the video for yourself on YouTube