Hello We are a small local company based in Cornwall who recently won an award for Best New Pest Control Product In 2019 from Pest Magazine at PestTech International Pest Control Exhibition.

A Truro doctor has received a coveted award for his ground-breaking innovation in pest control.

Dr Toby Bateson, an Emergency Doctor at Royal Cornwall Hospital, invented RatMat - the world’s first humane electrified rodent repellent flooring.

Dr Bateson, said: “I am thrilled to receive this amazing award. We have worked hard for years to reach this point; the product wouldn’t be what it is today without the tireless enthusiasm of my colleagues. Thank you so much to everyone who voted for us."

The local inventor and entrepreneur was awarded second place in the Best Product Prize 2019 in Pest magazine.

RatMat, which uses similar principles to an electric fence, is designed to safely and humanely protect motor vehicles and other valuable property from rodent damage.

The scalable flooring device, which gives rodents an unpleasant shock to deter them, was developed with Wadebridge-based industrial design consultants Dufort Associates.

It was the brainchild of Dr Bateson after his father in law’s car was badly damaged by rodents. Working like an electric fence on the floor, the RatMat device is made up of inter-lockable tiles with a conductive steel surface.

The product is safe, scalable and transportable and doubles as a hard-wearing floor surface. It can be driven and walked on so acts as a barrier to rodents but not to humans. Recently the RatMat has been used to completely exclude mice from a garage when conventional poisons and modern CO2 traps were ineffective.

The site still remains free of rodent activity after six months.

RatMat is more environmentally friendly and humane than traps and poisons as it does not harm the animals or contaminate the environment.

After extensive research, six years in design and two years of product testing, the product is available through distributor KIllgerm.

Dr Bateson has ten years’ experience in product development. Bateson previously made headlines for achieving a Guinness World Record in 2016 for his smallest vacuum cleaner on earth and In 2018 won Business Insider Entrepreneur Of The Year Award for the South West.

Since the product’s launch at the end of 2018 Ratmat has made sales in the UK, as well as Europe and Australia.

For more information about Toby and RatMat visit www.hammertechltd.com