Luke Alsford

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

News Reporting

My portfolio of work as a reporter - most recently for Metro and The London Economic.

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...
Metro •

Residents in housing block say they are 'living in hell' over 'bed bug epidemic'

Residents have claimed their ‘biggest mistake’ was moving in Southern Housing flats after being blighted by bed bugs, mould and asbestos.
Four blocks of Southern Housing accommodation in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, have cases of bed bug infestations.
People living at Four Courts and the wider Southern Housing area have been protesting about living conditions for months, as tenants say their complaints about mould and asbestos are overlooked.
Lee Gooch, a resident of Four Courts since he was a...
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 •

Police bust £8,000,000,000 illegal streaming ring that broadcast Sky and Netflix

An international law enforcement operation has shut down a piracy streaming network that serves over 22 million users worldwide.
Codenamed ‘Take Down’, Italy’s Postal and Cybersecurity Police Service revealed that police officers carried out over hundred raids on illegal streaming infrastructure in Europe and China.
The piracy service had streamed to over 22 million users worldwide, using sophisticated IT systems to broadcast live TV schedules and on-demand content from Sky, Netflix, Amazon Prim...
Metro •

School that just re-opened after flood damage is flooded again by Storm Bert

A primary school that reopened on Tuesday after flood damage has been hit by devastating floods again due to Storm Bert.
Year 3 and 4 classrooms at Holmer Church of England Academy in Hereford were back in use on Tuesday after months of repair work, only for the school to be submerged by floods yet again.
A major incident has been declared in parts of south Wales and dozens more flood warnings are in place as Storm Bert brings more than a month’s worth of rain in some areas.
Holmer CoE Academy,...
South East Londoner •

Shoplifting in Southwark more than triples to decade-high levels

Shoplifting crimes have soared to the highest levels in a decade in Southwark, Metropolitan Police data shows.


The number of shoplifting crimes recorded in Southwark by the Met Police rose by almost 240% from May to September.


Shop thefts have risen in every single London borough over the past two years and the latest data from the Met Police shows that Southwark is now the worst affected.


There were 115 shoplifting crimes were recorded in May in Southwark by the Met Police, spiking to...
Metro •

Plumbers called to unblock 7,000 loos in parliament in the 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 •

Former councillor stabbed 'defenceless' wife as she soothed their baby

A former councillor who stabbed his wife in the back in an attack described as the ‘ultimate act of cowardice’ has been jailed for 18 years.
Darren Brown, 35, attacked his wife, Corrine Brown, with a knife at their home in Wildmill, Bridgend, while she ‘was at her most vulnerable’ and placing a dummy in their child’s mouth.
Brown, who was an independent member of Bridgend Town Council at the time of the attack on 10 July last year, was convicted of attempted murder by a jury at Merthyr Tydfil Cr...
Metro •

Warning about 'danger to public safety' at iconic Christmas market

Millions of people planning to visit the famous Christmas market in Frankfurt have been warned of risks to public health and safety.
Children’s health is threatened by weed consumption at Christmas markets, while knife crime also posed a ‘high escalation risk’, Hesse’s government said.
The state’s interior minister, Roman Poseck, announced plans on Wednesday to ban cannabis at Christmas markets, including the iconic Frankfurt market.
There will also be increased police presence to enforce a knif...
Metro •

London cable car that cost £60,000,000 has a shockingly low demand at rush hour

London’s Cloud Cable Car, which cost around £60,000,000 to build, only carries an average of four passengers an hour during the early morning commute.
Demand for the gondola service, known as the Dangleway or the IFS Cloud Cable Car, reached an average of four journeys in each direction between 7am and 8am from August 2023 to August 2024.
Transport For London is now looking to cut the cable car’s morning opening times by up to 2 hours from December 1, despite the fact it still attracts tens of t...
Metro •

Musician who composes with his nose hopes to break barriers in music industry

A musician with cerebral palsy who uses his nose to write lyrics has said that his fight to get his song performed live shows the barriers that disabled people still face in the music industry.
Michael Lerman, whose arms and legs are paralysed due to cerebral palsy, is hoping that his nose-written song ‘She Wrote’ will transform the music industry and how it values disabled artists.
Despite teaming up with London-based singer Kah’Nya to perform his song, music venues in the capital have ignored...
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 •

Passengers delayed for eight hours after 'disgusting' cockroaches found on plane

Passengers were left ‘gobsmacked’ after cockroaches found on a TUI plane caused two flights to be severely delayed.
Holidaymakers flying to and from Tenerife and Gatwick had their flights delayed for 8 hours on September 15 due to a cockroach problem on their plane, despite initially being told the delay was down to ‘catering issues’.
Enraged passengers are now planning to take the travel firm to court after TUI refused to compensate them for disruption, citing ‘extraordinary circumstances.’
Mic...
Metro •

Flights slowly resuming at UK airport after police incident

Birmingham Airport has resumed operations after flights were suspended for hours this afternoon as police dealt with an incident on site.
Following a search of a ‘suspicious vehicle’ by the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, the vehicle was deemed safe, West Midlands Police said.
Some passengers have already begun boarding flights and passengers are being advised to check their latest flight information before arriving at the airport.
Passengers inside the airport told Metro it was as if the disr...
Metro •

School cancels 'Blue Nose Day' after massive backlash

A school has scrapped plans to turn off its heating all day in a bid to try and conserve energy after a father told the school it was ‘child cruelty’.
Alec Marshall, who has two children that attend Wolsingham School in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, said the original idea would have stopped children from learning and risked the health of the pupils.
In an email to sent to parents and carers on Monday, Wolsingham School announced they would be turning off the heating all day at the end of the w...
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 •

Tortoise can't eat after thieves steal companion he's lived with for 38 years

A councillor is devastated after thieves returned to her house steal her pet tortoise days after ransacking her home.
Pat Gregory said she lost thousands of pounds worth of possessions in the burglary, which took place during the last week of August at her home in Enfield, north London.
Councillor Gregory had been visiting her son in hospital in Stoke-on-Trent when she returned and found her home had been destroyed between Tuesday, August 27 and Thursday, August 29.
In a further blow, the culpri...
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...
North West Londoner •

Barnet Council voted health and safety "Bad of Boss of the Year" by trade union

Barnet Council beat Amazon and ASDA to be voted “Bad Boss of the Year” by a trade union health and safety conference.


The vote came from delegates at the 35th National Hazards Conference of trade union health and safety reps and activists, which took place from 30 August to 1 September.


The organiser of the conference, Janet Newsham, cited the ongoing dispute between Barnet UNISON mental health social workers and the council, which has lasted more than a year, for the result.


Newsham, w...
North West Londoner •

Camden restaurant changing lives by tackling homelessness opens

Formerly homeless employees of a newly opened fine dining restaurant in Camden have claimed the project has changed their lives.


Home Kitchen opened last week in Primrose Hill with the aim of tackling homelessness by employing and training those who have experienced it.


Waiter Jeremy Coates found his very first job at Home Kitchen through a course run by the charity Beyond Food, aiming to help those in disadvantaged backgrounds gain skills in food and hospitality.


He said: “Before findi...
The London Economic •

Mosque targetted in riots has given £25k to Royal British Legion to support veterans

After finding itself the target of far-right protesters in Hartlepool this week, the Nasir Mosque’s history of commendable community-spirited charity work has been revealed.
During the violent unrest that erupted this week following the deadly stabbing of three girls in Southport, far-right thugs attacked the Muslim place of worship in Hartlepool. Since then, the mosque’s incredible track record of charitable deeds has come to light.According to the national charity Community Organisers, the mos...
The London Economic •

Hero builder helps rebuild wall of Southport mosque

Bricklayer Tony Hill has been labelled a “legend” for helping the Southport community rebuild the local mosque wall.
Relaying bricks on the wall destroyed by far-right protesters on Tuesday, a video showing Hill working at “breakneck speed” in the blistering heat has been widely shared on X.The mosque in the seaside town had been hit by bricks and other items by the rioters, who Merseyside Police believe were “supporters of the English Defence League”. This violence has impounded the grief and p...
The London Economic •

GB News presenter arrested at far-right protest

GB News presenter Martin Daubney was arrested during the violent protests outside Downing Street last night.
Daubney, who presents a weekday show on GB News, was briefly handcuffed by the Cenotaph at the “Enough is Enough” demonstrations following the fatal stabbing of three girls in Southport.Footage shows police swiftly letting Daubney go as he explained his role reporting on the riots.
Speaking to fellow GB News presenter Mark Dolan about his arrest, Daubney explained that a police officer “s...
Palatinate •

Durham in Stockton: how are international students prepared for University life?

By Luke Alsford


It is often forgotten by students studying in Durham, as they attend lectures in view of the city’s cathedral, or grab coffee by the River Wear, that Durham life continues almost thirty kilometres away, in the market town of Stockton.


On the edge of County Durham, Stockton-on-Tees is home to hundreds of international students completing a foundation year or a Pre-Masters course, in the hopes of progressing on to academic study in Durham, or elsewhere.


Run by the educatio...
Load More