Luke Alsford

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

Exclusives

Explore my exclusive scoops and stories while at Metro.

Metro •

Thousands of mice, rats and birds have plagued Parliament for the last five year

Thousands of pests have been caught in the corridors of Westminster, Metro can reveal.
Pest controllers have had to tackle over 3,000 reports of mice, rats, insects and birds in Parliament, data from the House of Commons and Lords shows.
Issues with unpleasant critters appear to be on the up as well, with the first six months of 2025 seeing almost as many call-outs as the whole of 2022.
Westminster’s pest team logged more than 3,000 reports of pests in the Parliamentary Estate since 2020.
An arm...
Metro •

Fan missed entire Oasis gig after 'security guards knocked him unconscious'

An Oasis super fan said he was ‘knocked out by security guards who lunged into him’ as they tried to tackle a gate-jumper at the band’s sold-out concert.
Joel Garner, 34, needed to go to A&E and ended up missing the entire concert at Heaton Park in Manchester on July 16.
His sister Evie Barker, 23, who was with Joel and three others at the gig, claims the security guards referred to him as ‘collateral damage’ before walking off while he suffered a seizure.
Joel, who works in media, is now pleadi...
Metro •

The alarming health problem forcing children to miss school

Scientists are warning about a simple health issue causing hundreds of thousands of children to miss extra days of school.
Tooth decay and other dental issues mean pupils lose hours of valuable lesson time – with the poorest kids worst affected.
The problem has been revealed by researchers in Scotland, but they warn that the tooth fairy could be even busier in England.
Their study of over 260,000 Scottish children found that children with tooth decay missed on average five more half-days of scho...
Metro •

Banksy's right-hand man reveals moment artist was 'seconds' from being exposed

Banksy’s former manager has revealed when the anonymous graffiti artist was inches away from being caught in the act.
Steve Lazarides, who was Banksy’s manager from 1997 to 2008, told Metro the graffiti legend was ‘seconds’ away from being arrested and revealing his name.
The graffitist’s identity has been a well-kept secret since he rose to prominence in the 1990s, leading to wild speculation and rumours as to who the Bristol artist could be.
The world almost found out back in 2004, when Banksy...
Metro •

UK health warning after cases of bacteria causing 'worst diarrhoea ever' soar

Experts are warning about soaring new cases of a deadly bacteria which leaves patients scared with the ‘worst diarrhoea ever’.
Clostridioides difficile, or C. diff, infections killed more than one in 10 cases in 2023/4 and costs the NHS tens of thousands of pounds.
Doctors are now also warning that cases and deaths could continue to rise across the UK if more is not done to reduce numbers to pre-pandemic levels.
The highly contagious bacterium is found in people’s bowel and can cause infection w...
Metro •

Experts reveal how worried we should be about sleeper cells in the UK

An underground network of Iranian sleeper cells poses an unlikely but credible threat to the UK, defense and security experts have told Metro.
The warning comes as British Iranians told us efforts to recruit them are commonplace when they visit Iran.
While highly unlikely, analysts say opponents of the Iranian regime and Britain’s Jewish community would be the most probable targets of hostile spying operations in the UK.
War between Israel and Iran erupted last week after Israel attacked Iranian...
Metro •

‘We spent the hottest day of the year with no water - our landlords don't care'

A mother was ‘cut off from water’ for more than ten hours in an East London tower on the hottest day of the year.
Rebecca Monero, 36, says her two children had no access to running water and were left without emergency water supplies, as temperatures hit 34°C in Saturday’s heatwave.
Her kids, 13 and 9, fought to keep cool inside Kotata House, in East Village, formerly the 2012 Olympic Village.
The communications officer said Southern Housing, who jointly own her landlord Triathlon Homes, ‘couldn...
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 •

Family business 'loses £10,000' after Meta blocks their accounts for 12 weeks

A family photography business feel like ‘nobody cares’ after Meta locked them out of their social media accounts for more than three months.
Couple Gavin and Jenni Rolph estimate their business has lost £10,000 because their crucial Instagram account have been down since March 6.
They have attempted to contact Meta three times a week but have hit a brick wall, with even legal letters going unanswered.
The nightmare began on March 6 when the pair, who planned their Rolph and Co Photography busine...
Metro •

Fears gunman is targeting cats in village after pet shot with air rifle

A cat owner fears a gunman is attacking pets in her village after her cat was shot by an air rifle.
Vicki Waskett’s cat Bella, four, was shot on May 22 and needed emergency surgery.
Residents of Wendlebury, near Bicester, don’t feel safe as the mystery gunman remains on the loose.
Bella, a timid half-Burmese half-tabby cat who doesn’t roam far, was rushed to the vet after returning home with an odd puncture wound on her leg that was gushing blood.
Vets soon discovered a 1cm long pellet lodged in...
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 •

Woman 'fled beauty salon without paying £400 treatment' in 'glow-and-go'

Forget dine-and-dash, a beauty clinic in London has been the alleged victim of a filler-and-flee.
Infinity Aesthetics Ilford claim a woman came in for £400 worth of lip filler and anti-wrinkle treatment but left without paying.
The client allegedly dashed after promising her payment would arrive within two hours, then ignored calls and messages chasing the money.
Owner Ambreen Shehzadi, 40, says she was contacted by a woman named Maureen on Sunday needing urgent mother’s day aesthetic care.
Afte...
Metro •

Grindr introduces new London feature in dating app overhaul

Grindr is overhauling its app to roll out a game-changing new feature in London and fourteen other world cities.
Metro has been given an exclusive video of the LGBT dating app’s ‘Right Now’ tool, soon to be available for gay daters in London.
Right Now adds a real-time feed, separate from the iconic Grindr grid, designed to provide immediate hook ups.
The feature is one of a number of new Grindr services hitting users this year, which aim to diversify the app’s offering on travel fun and finding...
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 •

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 •

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 •

Family ‘distraught’ after two Pets at Home guinea pigs die within a week

A family are ‘distraught’ after two guinea pigs bought at Pets at Home died within a week ‘with Strep symptoms’.
Sam Mesher and daughters Ava, 4, and Mia, 11, saw their pet Coco die after having her for just three weeks, and then Coco’s replacement, Fudge, died a few days later.
Sam claims the animals were infected with Streptococcus, commonly known as Strep, which was discovered among Pets at Home’s guinea pig population last week.
The pet store stopped selling guinea pigs due to the outbreak....
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 •

Family 'disgusted' after taking home 'contagious' infected guinea pigs

A family are shocked and ‘disgusted’ after taking home two ‘infected’ guinea pigs from Pets at Home.
Carl Tyrrell, his partner Tiffany and his son Logan, bought two guinea pigs from Pets at Home in Lincoln, who soon became worryingly ill with a ‘contagious’ respiratory virus.
Pets at Home has been forced to stop selling the furry pets after discovering cases of Streptococcus, commonly known as Strep, among the animals.
Strep is a bacteria which can cause dangerous infections in animals, includin...
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 •

How surgeons could soon be operating on you from a different country

Surgery is scary at the best of times, but what if your surgeon was controlling the scalpel from halfway across the world?
This could be the new reality within a matter of years as technology companies look roll out 6G networks worldwide, according to a senior figure involved in its development.
6G’s nanosecond fast speed could now make ‘online surgeries’ possible for the first time.
What will make 6G unlike any other previous mobile networks is its latency, which is the time it takes for data t...
Metro •

Shock over Church of Scientology advert allowed at London Tube station

An advert promoting the controversial Scientology religion at a London Tube station has caused shock and disbelief among commuters.
The poster, which encourages Londoners to find out more about the group, was spotted over the weekend at a Tube platform.
Scientology has been labelled a ‘cult’ by critics, and has been criticised for its claims about mental health, its finances and even abusive practices.
The Tube advert says in large writing ‘I’m a Scientologist’, accompanied by the picture of a c...
Metro •

We could have a Storm Fanny and Stormy McStormface if the public had their way

Britain could one day be hit by a Storm Fanny or a Storm Stormy McStormface, according to a list of potential Met Office storm names.
The list, seen by Metro, reveals over 1600 storm names suggested by the public to the Met Office in 2024.
Dozens of unhinged and bizarre names have received scores of nominations, with the Met Office saying these suggestions are considered for future storms.
There were over 36,000,000 suggestions made by email or online form, with the Met Éireann, the Met Office a...
Metro •

Blind passenger twice left without help at same London station late at night

A train passenger was left ‘isolated’ and scared at a London station when night-time travel assistance failed to turn up twice.
Kelsey Trevett, 23, who is blind, had to navigate unfamiliar Willesden Junction and Dalston Kingsland with only a cane after helpers were missing at 11pm at night.
Kelsey, who won Child of Courage at the Pride of Britain awards after losing their sight to cancer as a child, was let down after being promised assistance through TfL’s ‘turn-up-and-go’ service last weekend....
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