£10k fine each for students who threw huge house party
FOUR university students have been fined £10,000 each and suspended from their courses after staging a house party, then trying to hide 30 guests in a basement and bedrooms.
Police said yesterday that when they brought a halt to the gathering, the group protested: ‘We should be having the time of our lives – you’re spoiling our fun.’
The third-year undergraduates at Nottingham Trent University were challenged when council-led community protection wardens spotted the party in full swing in the Lenton suburb of the city on Tuesday night.
The wardens called in police who were then told by the occupiers that all the guests had left. But when officers took a closer look, they found 30 people hiding in the kitchen, upstairs bedrooms, and even a cellar.
A £10,000 fine is the maximum penalty under new measures brought in two months ago to tackle outlawed large-scale gatherings which risk coronavirus transmission during the pandemic.
And mixing of households or support bubbles indoors has been banned since Nottingham went into Tier Two restrictions on October 14.
The city had the highest level of infection in England for nine days running, with many of the cases centring on areas with a high student population. Assistant Chief Constable Kate Meynell, of Nottinghamshire Police, condemned the students’ behaviour yesterday and said she found it ‘astounding’ that they viewed police as a barrier to their fun.
‘This needs to stop’, she said. ‘The majority of students are following the rules but there obviously is a significant number of them who feel as though they can show blatant disregard for the safety of those around them.
‘The students were given the opportunity for the situation to end with a warning but instead decided it was appropriate to lie to officers.’
A spokesman for Nottingham Trent University said: ‘Each student has been suspended pending the outcome of our investigation.
‘Any student who is found to have breached our disciplinary regulations can face a range of sanctions, up to and including expulsion.
‘We have repeatedly made clear to all students that they – like everyone – have a crucial role to play in limiting the spread of this virus.’
Tier Three lockdown restrictions are set to be imposed on Nottingham, and the wider county area, in the coming days. On Monday, the city had a Covid rate of 632.6 per 100,000 people.
Police said that in a separate incident, another Nottingham Trent University student was given a £200 fine for ignoring warnings from officers to leave a party in Blenheim Court student Halls in the city’s St Ann’s area.