www.thecourieronline.co.uk Monday 15 October 2012 Issue 1254 Free Student saver voucher: ALAN DAVIES: Two burgers, QUITE INTERESTING e complete Two beverages, round-up Ten quid INTERVIEW P.14-15 p.16-17 Lifestyle, p.28 £200 nes for Duchess drops in on Toon News p.3 noisy students “For students to take it more seriously, •we needed to increase our response” By George Sandeman another noise complaint about us. We News Editor hadn’t received any complaints before and were handed an ASBO that night Fines up to £200 will be handed out to by two police o cers, two plain-clothes students for rst-time excessive noise o cers and two council workers. ere o ences. was nothing mentioned about having e new policy, which came into e ect three complaints.” this semester on 24 September, is the Students have also spoken about how latest attempt by the University to curb some of the complaints for excessive anti-social behaviour by students in the noise made against them have been community. unfair, making life in their homes al- Speaking to Dawn Gray of the Student most intolerable due to the fear of be- Progress Service she explained why such ing handed a large ne or ASBO by the nancial penalties were now necessary: council. “[Excessive noise] is such a big problem A group of students who lived on Bay- and it’s not just residents, but other stu- swater Road in West Jesmond last year dents, who are be- told e Courier: “It was a disaster living ing bothered and above [a particular neighbour] and felt Last year, 129 we do take these we could barely do any normal activities reports and com- without her complaining. complaints plaints very seri- “She was unreasonable throughout the were made ou s l y.” year, complaining about noise from the about students Last year, 129 TV during Match of the Day and “par- causing exces- complaints were ties” when there was no music and less made about stu- than 10 people round.” sive noise with dents causing ex- Speaking on the variety of noise com- 65 of those cessive noise with plaints the University deals with, Gray coming from 65 of those com- said: “We see everything, we do see it other students ing from other from one extreme to the other. We en- students. e year counter day-to-day noise of students before, 121 complaints were made with just moving around the house, some- 68 coming from students. thing we’d never hold students account- Gray sought to justify why there was able for as it’s out of their control, but a need to punish rst time o enders we would mediate and get the landlord by saying: “We want to try and sort the involved in order to get the matter re- problem out at a much earlier stage and solved. it is to the students’ bene t that we do “It’s the inconsiderate noise we’re try- that before any possible court or council ing to tackle where students are putting action.” the TV on loud at two o’clock in the She explained that the council usually morning and banging doors. e kind only takes such action a er three com- of noise that could have been avoided is plaints have been made about a particu- what they are going to be held account- lar house, but that “those could all come able for. But if it’s parties getting out of Rape trial set to conclude in the same night if the council’s Night continued on page 7 Noise Team keep having to return to the By Leela Prasad which she alleged that the incident took e defendant denies rape and says same property.” place at her home on 20 September he had consensual sex with her but has However, speaking to e Courier, Fair fi ne? Tell The Courier 2011, soon a er she reached the city, pled guilty to the charge of assault. residents of a house on Queens Road in what you think at: An international student has been giv- with the crimes perpetrated by another A reconstruction of events took place Jesmond contradicted this saying: “We ing testimony in Newcastle Crown international student in the UK. but versions by the defence and pros- held a party on 17 November and were www.thecourieronline.co.uk Court as a victim of rape and assault. e case has been adjourned until ecution produced con icting accounts. threatened with a £1000 ne if there was e trial began last Tuesday during Monday morning. continued on page 5 2 Monday 15 October 2012 e Courier News Editors: George Sandeman, Susie May Beever and Anna Templeton Online News Editor: Aine Stott thecourieronline.co.uk/newsNews [email protected] | @TheCourier_News NEWS Checky Watch commenters arrested a er SYRIAN SILENCE Students and faculty posting threatening messages on facebook remember murdered graduate Miri Hussein By Georgie Moule A Nexus spokesperson said: “While nal activity, we are not telling people the public purse. the protest was legitimate, the facebook to dodge fares, we are simply advising “Metro fares are set as low as possible 5 group has seen a number of posts mak- people on the whereabouts of Metro and, compared to other transport sys- HONOURING DR KING Two contributors to a facebook page, ing threats against Metro sta . is is inspectors. We are not saying that the tems around the country, it represents which advises Metro passengers on the totally unacceptable and has been re- 45 years since iconic location of ticket inspectors, have been ported to the police.” rights leader awarded arrested for threatening Metro sta on- e facebook page was created on “While the protest was legitimate, the line. September 26 by 21-year-old Ben Potts- a doctorate in civil law Matthew Dean O’Neil, aged 21, of Ap- Heywood from Jarrow and now has facebook group has seen a number of posts pleby Court, North Tyneside and David nearly 17,500 ‘likes’. In response to criti- 9 Edgar, aged 26, of Tynemouth Road, cism of the page by Metro bosses, Potts- making threats against Metro sta ” Wallsend have both been charged with Heywood claims the page was not set malicious communication and will ap- up to encourage people to evade metro metro should be free, we are simply say- good value for money. e law-abiding COMMENT pear before magistrates on October 18. fares, but because people are “fed up” ing it should not be so expensive.” majority of passengers buy tickets to e Courier understands this is in with the “extortionate” price of tickets. A Nexus spokesperson said: “ is fa- use the Metro service. It is totally unac- connection with comments posted Speaking to e Courier at the protest cebook page is promoting fare evasion ceptable that a small minority seem to PIMPS AND HOES on the ‘Checky Watch’ facebook page, on October 7, Potts-Heywood said: “I on the Metro system, which is a crimi- think they can cheat the system.” which have been denounced as “crimi- don’t think it’s a very good service when nal o ence, and we want facebook to e inspectors are supported by the Is the most recent nal” by Nexus, the company responsible you pay those prices to sit on urinated close it down. Metro is subsidised by Northumbria Police Metro Unit, who Carnage theme for the Metro system. e arrests came seats in a tin box. A lot of people agree.” the tax payers of Tyne and Wear, it does stressed that travelling on the Metro as demonstrators gathered for a protest In a statement, Checky Watch said: not make a pro t, so anyone who travels without a valid ticket could lead to pros- really acceptable? at Grey’s Monument on October 7. “ is page is not promoting crimi- without a ticket is taking money from ecution and a ne of up to £500. CHECKMATE 11 Scandal over the Metro ‘Checky Friends remember Guy Joseph in 300 mile cycle ride Watch’ alerts 12 By George Sandeman News Editor Waking up at 6am, nding your cycling SPORT shorts and checking you’ve got enough Mars bars is not how the average person starts their weekend. INTRA MURAL PREVIEW But that’s exactly what Chanelle Weller and Dan Parker did on Saturday morn- An early look ing last week as they prepared to em- at this year’s bark on their near 300 mile cycle ride. eir mammoth undertaking was top dogs done in the name of Guy’s Trust which TOUR DE was set up a er the death of Guy Joseph, 42 a 2009 Marine Biology graduate, who NORTH WINTER SWIM died last year in the Spanish Pyrenees Chanelle and Dan a er a paragliding accident. cycled from What did Chanelle explained: “His family want- Newcastle to Guy’s ed his name to keep going on and to home in East losing a bet on continue what Guy believed in, he spent Finchely, London Pardew lead to? a lot of time in Asia and fell in love with Photography: Dan the culture and the people. He used to Parker 45 give up a lot of his time, helping out and teaching kids English so his family thought it would be a good idea to set all uni students who went out every 24 minutes. Asked why they chose to raise money up a charity to build schools. summer so I met him out there. A er Having intended to start from the by cycling in particular, Chanelle said: “ ey chose Nepal because that is that, whenever university campus, they set o from “We wanted to do something a bit dif- where he learnt to paraglide and was Guy went back Gateshead for logistical reasons.