A gang of masked men attempted to break into a Derwent accommodation block last week, raising fresh concerns about student welfare in the wake of the recent axing of college porters.
The intruders were also seen lurking around the cycle parking outside Derwent’s porters lodge.
Two eyewitnesses reported that they saw several men in masks and hoodies fidgeting with the locks on students bikes.
The students immediately went back to their block to call security in an effort to stop the potential theft.
This however, proved to be a harder task than expected.
“We tried to call the security on the phones in our rooms, but we couldn’t get through,” said one of the students. “We went down to the porters lodge to see if we could find someone there, but it was obviously empty.”
Not knowing what else to do, the two students hurried to Langwith and Vanburgh looking for help, but found no security personnel and no porters.
YUSU President Tim Ngwena commented: “Bikes being stolen on campus is an ongoing problem that happened even when there was 24 hour portering.”
He added: “In the end this is more a communications issue. The 3333 emergency number needs to be better publicised.”
Many residents of the Derwent block are outraged and claim that had a porter been present the problem would never have arisen.