Revealed: University staff spent thousands in strip clubs and sex shops

University staff across the country have spent thousands of pounds on trips to strip clubs, sex toy websites and on Domino's pizza and pints, an investigation by The Sun has revealed.

Other purchases included a trip to Caesar's Palace casino in Las Vegas, a shopping spree at Gucci and a night out at a Mayfair nightclub.

The purchases, totalling £204 million, were made on taxpayer-funded credit cards and revealed by a Freedom of Information Request submitted to 54 universities.

Here are the details of some of the questionable purchases made by UK universities.

Northumbria

Spent £2,184 at Spearmint Rhino, a lap-dance club, where they were booked in as corporate guests.

Northumbria excused the payment, saying: “The payment was reimbursed promptly and in full, the basis on which the transaction was authorised.”

Nottingham

Nottingham's purchases included £142 on a sex toy site out of a total of £19.8 million worth of spending on its credit cards.

Nottingham also explained the millions spent, including the sex toy purchase by saying: “We use cards in our global operation which delivers £1billion to the economy each year.”

Durham

Durham spend £2,614 at Caesar's Palace casino on a trip to Las Vegas. The total spending on their credit cards was £17 million.

Liverpool

Liverpool splashed out £18 million, including £22,000 on Domino's pizza and £3,018 at Cheltenham and York race courses.

City University, London

Staff at City spent £23,790 in just two pubs, presumably their locals, in what can only be described as a tremendous effort by all involved.

Cardiff

Cardiff spent £3,497 on food and drink at Domino's pizza, not quite the £22,000 Liverpool spent at the pizza chain but I guess that's what you get from a uni that shouldn't really be in the Russell Group.

Queen Mary, London

One employee at Queen Mary University of London used a university credit card in order to pay a litter fine.

Loughborough

Loughborough spent £1,260 on tours of Manchester United football club, and across all universities £11,000 was spent at Manchester United.

Sheffield Hallam

One purchase at Sheffield Hallam University was for "dating and escort services" but was registered under the wrong chip-and-pin category by the seller, according to a university spokesman.

Oxford

Oxford spent £11 million in total on their credit cards, but would not reveal the full details of what the money was spent on, saying it would take too long to provide a breakdown of purchases made on a whopping 522 company credit cards.

Cambridge

Cambridge has a massive £4.9 billion in cash reserves, but also said it would cost too much to provide details of the purchases.

Bristol

Bristol also refused to provide details of their credit card spending because the answers could distress staff, which to be honest only makes me more intrigued as to what they've been spending money on.

*****

The 54 universities involved in the investigation received £1.2 billion of public money in the 2017/18 academic year.

Along with money from student loans and other student spending, this money forms the majority of universities' incomes.

John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance who campaign against wasteful government spending, criticised the spending by staff that comes on top of “enormous” vice-chancellor pay.

O'Connell said: "Students will be appalled at how little universities seem to care about their money."

MP Andrew Bridgen said:“Universities are now big businesses and appear to have picked up some bad habits. They should have to publish these spending records annually.”