Sheffield students return back to their halls to find missing items and rooms wrecked

The University of Sheffield was forced to pay out compensation to students from Endcliffe accommodation block, after they returned from lockdown to find expensive goods missing and rooms wrecked.

In emails from the uni seen by The Tab, one student was told that there was “no explanation” for the disappearance of her coffee machine, and that she would have to accept £89.99 instead.

The email from the uni Customer Services

Another student told The Tab that when she went back her flat was “completely trashed”, despite her thorough cleaning before she went home.

Food which her flat had been saving for second year, including big bags of pasta, rice, and protein powder, had gone.

She said: “When I walked in it honestly felt like we’d been looted. All the furniture was just scattered everywhere, everything empty.

“There was soil all over the floor (from my big palm plant called Simon), and the big pot he was in was just gone.”

The flat had been left in perfect condition

“They said they would donate food but told us this after taking it which is a bit weird. We all expected that to mean perishable items as they said it was for health and safety reasons but they took absolutely everything.

“If you take things without asking and then later say ‘we donated your things’, that’s not donating – that’s stealing. It felt horrible.”

A different Endcliffe student had the same problem, and went back to find all of her knives, forks, spoons and glasses missing along with her canned food, and her flat wrecked.

She said: “Being from a low-income household, it would have been really useful for my family to have and I was planning on giving it to them.

“It was just a bit gutting coming back to see the remnants of my belongings strewn all over the place, it was absolutely trashed. The clearing out process was stressful enough, never mind lots of my stuff missing.”

A spokesperson for the University of Sheffield said: “We are aware of a small number of cases where our students have recently returned to their accommodation and items have been reported as missing or damaged, and are working with these students to support them.

“Should any student have concerns, we encourage them to contact Accommodation and Commercial Services at [email protected] who will thoroughly investigate any incidents.”

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