Luke Alsford

I am a journalist covering news, investigative and human-interest stories for Metro.

Metro •

Brit fined £500 for saying 'I think you are a racist' after missing uni deadline

A British man was fined 600 euros (£500) by German police after telling someone ‘I think you are a racist’.
Arthur Goldberg, 30, objected to the fine in January 2024 and is now facing prosecution in the courts for the remark.
Insulting someone is a criminal offence in Germany but Arthur argues he is protected by freedom of expression rights.
Arthur said: ‘I didn’t think anywhere in the free world you could be prosecuted for insulting somebody.
‘I don’t want to be constantly scared if I say the w...
Metro •

'I spent a day with the Birmingham rat catcher - this is the worst thing we saw'

Most people walk around the giant mound of bin bags and flies on Poplar Road in Birmingham, but not William Timms.
The pest control expert heads straight towards the pile of rubbish and tells me straight away rats are nesting inside.
William is Birmingham’s ‘rat catcher’, trying to shoot down the city’s exploding rat population, which is feasting on over 22,000 tonnes of dumped rubbish.
As striking bin workers refused to end their industrial action on Monday, he fears rat infestations will only...
Metro •

Man let off with a caution after woman caught him spying on her through gym vent

A woman who was spied on by a voyeur through a changing room vent has hit out at the decision to only give him a caution.
Elsa Baudart has spoken of her anger and ‘sadness’ that police are not prosecuting the perpetrator after he confessed.
Elsa was changing out of a bikini at Putney Leisure Centre on January 25 when she spotted a pair of glasses through the vent above her head.
The man had used a chair in the neighbouring disabled changing room to peer through.
He was arrested on the day but po...
Metro •

Man’s life ‘ripped apart’ after being evicted from care home of 10 years

A disabled man is ‘powerless’ to oppose a ‘traumatising eviction’ from his care home of ten years due to a funding refusal from Wiltshire Council.
The ‘distraught’ family of Stephen Turner, 35, were told he only has months left to stay in his home because the council are refusing to cover an uplift in funding.
Stephen requires 20-hour care for Angelman syndrome, known as ‘happy man syndrome’ and cerebral palsy.
His ‘incredible’ care at Old Orchard care home, run by Choice Care, is funded partly...
Metro •

Bed bugs blighted London's hospitals more than 500 times over 7 years

Patients, including children, are potentially being exposed to bed bugs as London hospitals faced hundreds of infestations since 2018.
Nineteen NHS trusts across London said they had to call in pest control over 500 times to tackle bed bugs in the last seven years, costing some hospitals hundreds of pounds.
The Royal London Children’s Hospital, which is run by Barts Health NHS Trust, as well as King’s College Hospital, which sits under the King’s College Hospital NHS Trust, were among the worst...
Metro •

Plumbers called to unblock 7,000 loos in government buildings in last two years

Civil servants have cost the British taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds clogging up their own loos.
Government buildings have suffered more than 7,000 blocked toilets and urinals in the last two years, data from the Cabinet Office and other departments have shown.
Toilets used by new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, Bridget Phillipson and Michael Gove have all gone out of order, with the Department for Work and Pensions being the biggest culprits.
The cost of plumbing jobs to fix civil servants’...
Metro •

Grandma, 71, sacked as a cleaner at London university over ‘misplaced bracelet'

A grandma is fighting to clear her name after being sacked where she has worked for 13 years over a ‘misplaced bracelet’.
Janet Olufunke Damiro, 71, has been accused of stealing a bracelet she claims she found on a shift at the London School of Economics.
Now over 70 of her colleagues have written to the university to defend her character after Janet said it was an ‘innocent case of forgetfulness.’
The cleaner, who came to the UK from Nigeria in 1971, told Metro she forgot about the gold bracele...
Metro •

Mystery over why entire area didn't get much post for weeks is finally solved

At least a thousand undelivered letters and packages have been discovered dumped in a bin in East London.
A postal worker is believed to have left around 1,000 items including graduation certificates, credit cards and hospital appointments in bin bags weeks after they were posted, Metro can reveal.
Jennifer Simmons and her partner found the items in two communal bins in Dagenham on Wednesday.
The grandmother-of-six uncovered up to five bin bags allegedly dumped by a postman temporarily covering...
Metro •

How I changed history for thousands of gay and lesbian couples

Michael Salter-Church promised his partner that it would be legal for them to get married one day.
Five years later he was in Downing Street, with his husband, standing next to the Prime Minister.
For those of you who don’t know him, Michael was the Conservative Party advisor who helped turned same-sex marriage from a pipe dream into reality, overcoming rightwing rebellions and religious objections along the way.
He also revolutionised the London Pride event and made it a key tool in his quest f...
Metro •

Upskirting incidents on British trains have risen year on year since 2021

Hundreds of women have reported being ‘upskirted’ while on public transport since 2021.
More than 200 incidents of upskirting, which is where a secret photograph is taken under someone’s clothing without their knowledge, have been recorded in British trains since 2021, according to Freedom of Information request seen by Metro.
In 2021 this figure stood at 39 reports, and within three years this number risen by more than 50%.
A total of 46 incidents were recorded by the British Transport Police (...
Metro •

People in Birmingham 'desperately queueing online for slot to dump rubbish'

Birmingham residents are desperately trying to offload their bin bags and are praying for a quick end to the strikes.
A day after striking workers voted ‘overwhelmingly’ to reject an offer from Birmingham Council, Metro found rubbish piled up next to a GP and fly tipping ongoing.
Unite the Union said the offer was rejected as it did not address potential pay cuts for 200 drivers, and branded it as  ‘totally inadequate’.
As the strikes continue, logistical experts from the army have been called i...
Metro •

Yoga instructor thought leg might have to be cut off after Bali scooter crash

A yoga instructor has described dragging herself to the side of the road after her leg was ‘shattered’ in a scooter crash in Bali.
Jasmine Daisy, from Brighton, recalled the ‘disgusting’ scene of her right leg ‘almost at a 90-degree angle’ after two drunk men drove into her scooter last week in the small village of Uluwatu, on the Indonesian island of Bali.
The 33-year-old travelled to Bali a month before the incident, in the hopes of finding work online and ended up teaching at a week-long yoga...
Metro •

London pub crowd tells Metro who they want in the White House

Boos, woos and booze – welcome to inside an overnight US presidential election watch party at a pub in London.
Both Trump and Harris supporting Londoners are feeling ‘nervous but hopeful’, they’ve told Metro.
Between the existential dread and fear over the future of democracy, they also expressed optimism that their chosen candidate would win. It’s a mixed bag.
The first poll closed at 11pm (GMT) this evening, with state after state turning blue or red as county clerks see which boxes have been...
Metro •

British-Lebanese family trapped in Beirut facing 'psychological terrorism'

A British-Lebanese woman has said her family has faced ‘psychological terrorism’ over fears of being bombed in Lebanon as people desperately try to flee the country.
Dalia Rishani, the vice chairwoman of the Center for Lebanese Studies, said some of her British-Lebanese family members – including her mother Rajaa and nine-year-old cousin Leila – are stuck in Lebanon amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Thousands of civilians have been leaving southern Lebanon as...
Metro •

Uber drivers warn new feature is 'putting you at risk'

A ‘dangerous’ new Uber feature is putting the safety of passengers, pedestrians and other road users at risk, Uber drivers have said.
Drivers claim that Uber’s ‘trip radar’ tool distracts them while on the road and has hurt their income.
The App Drives and Couriers Union (ADCU) has launched a petition calling for the driving company to stop using the system, which allows drivers to browse multiple offers at a time and bid for rides against other drivers.
Trip radar, which was rolled out in Londo...