Thousands of students arriving at Greater Manchester’s universities have been given free personal safety kits.
With Freshers Weeks currently in full swing, and new and returning students in their thousands having now descended on Greater Manchester to attend many of the region’s world-renowned universities, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) says it’s “dedicated” to ensuring all who come to study within the area are safe.
The force has dished-out thousands of free personal safety kits containing anti-drink spiking items, personal attack alarms, crime prevention leaflets, and more.
Thousands of Greater Manchester university students given free anti-drink spiking kits / Credit: shawnanggg (via Unsplash) | PickPik
Dedicated GMP officers in each of the three boroughs’ city and town centres are also currently conducting community engagement activities with new students, and are actively talking to them about personal safety, theft, burglary, and cybercrime.
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On top of this, police are also out on patrol at evening and night times, and will be in both plain clothes and visibly uniformed.
They’ll be particularly targeting the region’s “high-traffic areas” and “crime hotspots”.
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GMP says this is to ensure everyone continues to be safe, and are “free to enjoy themselves in Greater Manchester’s bustling night life”.
#NEWS | GMP distribute 2000 student safe kits to new and returning University students across Greater Manchester.
Students who have moved, or are moving to live within the Greater Manchester region for the first time are also being actively encouraged by police to “familiarise” themselves with their new area.
This includes checking out public transport routes that they may be regularly using, obtaining up-to-date contact details and information for licensed taxi companies in the region, and familiarising themselves with the safest routes between their homes, shops, university buildings, and favourite places.
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After the North West had more reports of spiking than anywhere else in 2021 – with around 90% of those incidents taking place in central Manchester – GMP has also pledged to provide support and information for potential victims of spiking.
The force is now actively-telling students what to do if they think they’ve been spiked.
GMP officers are also patrolling at night across the region to keep students safe / Credit: GMP
“We know it can be scary to report being spiked,” GMP said in a statement.
“But the police are here to help you, and we will listen to you and take you seriously. It is not a crime to have illegal drugs in your system (unless you are driving), so please don’t let this stop you reporting spiking.”
GMP recommends calling 999 or 101 immediately if you think you have been a victim of spiking, and encourages letting a member of staff know too if you’re in a bar or a club.
Featured Image – GMP
News
Royal Mail fined £21m by Ofcom failing to meet its delivery targets
Emily Sergeant
Ofcom has fined Royal Mail a whopping £21 million for failing to meet its delivery targets in the last financial year.
Each year, it’s the watchdog’s job to look at and measure Royal Mail’s delivery performance against nationwide annual delivery targets, and for the 2024/25 season, the company was required to deliver 93% of First Class mail within one working day of collection, and 98.5% of Second Class mail within three working days.
If Royal Mail misses its annual targets, Ofcom will first consider evidence of any ‘exceptional circumstances’ beyond the company’s control, and whether it would have achieved its targets had those events not occurred.
However, even after accounting for extreme weather events, Royal Mail was still found to have fallen short of its targets… and this time, they’ve been fined their highest sum so far.
We have fined Royal Mail £21m for missing its 2024/25 delivery targets, without justification.
The company must now urgently publish, and deliver, a credible improvement plan.
This is the third time in a row that Ofcom has found the company to be in breach of its regulatory obligations, after it was first fined a substantial £5.6m in November 2023, and then a further £10.5m in December 2024.
Royal Mail only delivered 77% of First Class mail and 92.5% of Second Class mail on time between April 2024 and March 2025.
Ofcom says it has therefore decided that the company breached its obligations by failing to provide ‘an acceptable level of service’ without justification, and took ‘insufficient and ineffective’ steps to try and prevent this failure.
“Hiding behind the pandemic as a driving factor in failures at Royal Mail does not cut it.”
Royal Mail has been fined £21m by Ofcom failing to meet its delivery targets / Credit: Royal Mail
The watchdog says this is likely to have impacted millions of customers who did not get the service they paid for.
“Millions of important letters are arriving late, and people aren’t getting what they pay for when they buy a stamp,” explained Ian Strawhorne, who is the Director of Enforcement at Ofcom.
“These persistent failures are unacceptable, and customers expect and deserve better.
“Royal Mail must rebuild consumers’ confidence as a matter of urgency, and that means making actual significant improvements, not more empty promises.
“We’ve told the company to publicly set out how it’s going to deliver this change, and we expect to start seeing meaningful progress soon. If this doesn’t happen, fines are likely to continue.”
Featured Image – Royal Mail
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Thousands of elderly and disabled people to get free 24-hour bus travel across Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Hundreds of thousands of elderly and disabled people in Greater Manchester are set to benefit from round-the-clock bus travel for free.
Currently, as part on an ongoing pilot scheme, people with a Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM)-issued concessionary travel pass have free unlimited travel on Bee Network buses between 9.30am and midnight during the week, and all day on weekends and public holidays.
The rule was lifted in August on a trial basis for a month, meaning older and disabled residents in Greater Manchester had access to unlimited free bus travel any time between the allocated hours.
During the August trial, more than 100,000 journeys were made by older and disabled people – with up to 6,000 people a day making use of the pilot.
But now, after proving to be a huge success, the pilot is being extended even further, so that 400,000 eligible residents will now get free bus travel 24-hours a day, seven days a week, starting from 1 November.
If you travel with a TfGM-issued concessionary travel pass, from 1 November you’ll be able to use it on #BeeNetwork buses before 9.30am as part of a second month-long trial.
As well as free early-morning bus travel, during the trial starting in November, eligible residents will be able to board the Bee Network’s night buses for free too.
TfGM says allowing concessionary pass holders to travel at any time will ‘better connect’ them to healthcare, leisure, and retail opportunities.
“The last trial in August was a brilliant success, which saw more than 100,000 journeys made by our older and disabled people before 9.30am,” commented Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.
“We are now carrying out this second trial, at a busier time of year, to see whether we can safely remove the restriction permanently and help our older and disabled people to get to work, go shopping, and get to medical appointments.
“We want the Bee Network to be the best public transport system possible and this means it needs to support all of our residents and communities to make the journeys they need to make and use the bus more.”
Emily Sergeant -
27th September 2023 
