Student flew to West 18 times just to find a home

ASTUDENT commuted hundreds of miles from Amsterdam to Bristol weekly because he could not find accommodation in his university city.

Sohail Braakman, 26, flew from his home in the Netherlands a staggering 18 times to try to find a home – but was turned down on each occasion.

He started looking in June but decided to stay with his parents and board a plane each time he had a viewing when he realised how difficult the task was going to be.

Sohail said high competition, not being a working professional and not having a UK referee were the main reasons his applications were rejected.

Budget flights would cost around £80 for a return – although he sometimes got them for as little as £20.

Months of fruitless searching left Sohail facing having to continue the draining journey twice a week over the academic year – until the university stepped in.

The postgraduate student’s story went viral and officials at the University of Bristol have now offered him a room for £890 a month.

But Sohail still wants to raise awareness about the problems facing prospective students – and reveal how the ordeal affected him.

He said: “It was really looking tough. It affected me mentally. I went to the GP two times. I was very worried about not having a place to stay.

“I feel like the university should do more to make students aware. They only updated their website at the end of August that all of their accommodation was full.

“Quite a lot of postgraduate students are from abroad. I have friends now who are still looking. One of them has to sleep in a hotel.

“I was lucky because a space came up but lots of people are really struggling. Each time I went for a viewing I was up against five or six other people.

“I had hoped to be paying between £700 to £800 a month.”

A University of Bristol spokesperson said: “Colleagues in our accommodation team have been working incredibly hard over the past few weeks to individually support those students who were not part of the 6,000 students we have already placed in university-owned or university-managed accommodation.

“As each day has passed we have managed to bring down the number still looking for suitable accommodation and before our students started to arrive this weekend we were able to offer every student accommodation in Bristol or at our Langford campus.

“We believe our website and the information we supply to students gaining a place at Bristol is clear about the accommodation we can offer and the processes we follow.

“We are sorry if Sohail or any other student feels it is not clear. We always look to see where our processes can be improved and we will review our communications as part of this.

“He applied for accommodation after the accommodation deadline so was not guaranteed a room. However, we were able to offer him a studio flat in one of our postgraduate halls of residence on 2 September and he moved in on 17 September.”

The University of Bristol hit the headlines recently after it was revealed students who couldn’t be housed in the city were being given the option to live in Newport, Wales.