Residents angry over behaviour of uni students

RESIDENTS of a South Wales street are fed up with the “absolutely disgraceful” behaviour of their student neighbours.

People living in Queen Street, Treforest, have reported fighting, urinating, vomiting and even poo left in the streets by those studying at the nearby University of South Wales (USW), and want action to be taken. The university has said it is aware of the issue and is investigating.

Mel Jones, who lives on the street and cares for her elderly mother Margaret, said: “Where is it going to stop and why do we have to put up with it? I’ve seen one boy standing on a car who pulled his pants down and was about to have a poo on it, but I had to shout at him to stop.

“On another occasion, people were pouring beer out of the window from the first floor. We found poo on the street down the road, and it’s still there now. It’s just disgusting. They don’t care – they just do what they want. How would they feel if we went to their homes and did what they are doing here?”

She said the students were “acting like children”, adding: “It’s just not fair for older people who are at home on their own. Some of them are petrified. Their behaviour could give someone a heart attack. It’s so unfair. A lady down the road is moving out because of it – we’ve had a gut-full.”

Mel, 51, said because the street is so close to the uni, it “gets it all”, and that it’s particularly bad on Wednesdays, the main student night.

She said this year was worse than previous years, but stressed that it was just a minority “ruining it for the rest”.

She added: “Don’t get me wrong, we have got lovely students around here, they’re not all bad, but on a Wednesday night it’s horrendous.

“It’s not going to end here either, because we have got Halloween coming up, and then fireworks night soon after.”

Another resident, Marion Morgan, 71, explained: “Last week, I could hear this racket of men chanting. Later in the night, they were being sick everywhere, and urinating on the road. They were throwing eggs all over the place on another night. This is like schoolkid behaviour.”

Yvonne Guy, 49, said: “One of the parties recently removed all of the sofas and chairs from their living room and put them in the street because they wanted more people in the house.”

Mel added: “We are not party poopers – we don’t mind them having a party, but this behaviour is not what we expect from people supposed to be the next intelligent ones in the community. They have got no respect, some of them.”

Mel said people in the village now look forward to holiday periods because it means peacefulness.

She added: “It’s lovely in the summer here, and we just have to wait for Christmas until we get another break. It’s sad to live in a place like that, but that’s the reality.

“They think it’s funny but they need to learn to respect the residents in Queen Street and all over Treforest – the university needs to tell them that – it’s absolutely ridiculous and we are at our wits’ end.

“It’s a good university. There’s a lot of good work done down there, and they are marvellous to residents – every Christmas they do a dinner, so these students are not being fair to their university. They are making a bad name for it.”

Treforest Councillor Steve Powderhill said: “It’s something that needs to be cut out, it’s simply unacceptable, but I must stress it’s the behaviour of a minority. I will be looking for help from USW to deal with it. If we catch them, they are going to be disciplined.”

A USW spokeswoman said: “We care about our relationship with the residents in Treforest, and the vast majority of students are courteous members of the community around us. We regularly meet local elected representatives, and we work with the police and council to deal fully and seriously with rare cases of students behaving below the standards we all expect.

“We have received complaints recently about the behaviour of some students around the Queen Street area which we are investigating. We are working with the police and council and would encourage local residents to continue to report any instances of anti-social behaviour to the appropriate authority, as well to identify properties or individuals to us so that we can investigate and take any appropriate action.”

South Wales Police and Rhondda Cynon Taf council were also contacted for comment.