Bristol student plans weekly Amsterdam commute due to housing shortage

Sohail says the university literature gave no indication about the housing issue in Bristol

A postgraduate student is considering flying to Bristol from Amsterdam every week for his course after failing to find housing for the past six weeks.

Sohail Braakman said this was an "extreme case which sounds crazy" but was cheaper than renting in Bristol.

First-year students left with no halls places said they felt abandoned by the university's lack of help offered.

The University of Bristol said it had managed to offer places to students in Bristol, Langford or Newport in Wales.

The university has more than 6,000 rooms in its halls-of-residence but has been offering backup accommodation 14 miles away at a school in Langford

Budget flights from Amsterdam can be as low as £20 for a one-way flight.

Mr Braakman, who is Dutch and lives in Amsterdam, was told a month after accepting his place he would need to find housing privately.

"I had the expectation it was going to be quite easy," he said.

"When I was looking on the website of the University of Bristol, I saw that it was all portrayed very nicely.

"If you applied for this university there are five postgraduate accommodations available, there was nothing about lack of availability."

A university spokesman said the information on it website was "clear about the accommodation we can offer and the processes we follow" but apologised if students felt it was not.

"We always look to see where our processes can be improved and we will review our communications as part of this," he added.

Mr Braakman said landlords would only accept "professional" tenants and others were charging £323 a week.

He also thought the university was accepting too many people, similar to airlines overbooking flights.

Bristol student Grace Whittaker said the "first option" she had been given was to "stay with friends and family in Bristol"

Wilf Gillett Coles, who is due to study physics at the university in October, also had "nowhere to live".

"Most haven't lived anywhere on their own and halls can be quite a nice transition period but we've just been thrown out into the wind," he said.

Sarah Purdy, who is responsible for student well-being at the university, said she was "really sorry" to hear students were anxious but added the process was the "same in every university" in the UK.

She added the university had not "let students in, over and above the numbers" it had planned to admit.

Instead, she said the influx was due to fewer students deciding to defer or withdraw their places.

She also said late-applying first-year students were told they could not be guaranteed university accommodation.

Another student, Grace Whittaker, was was unable to find housing in Bristol, and was told her other options were Langford or Newport.

"If you know how many spaces you have for students, why give out so may offers and why let so many through clearing?" she questioned.

Newport in Wales is about 30 miles from Bristol city centre - where the university is based

A university spokesman said it had been working "incredibly hard" to help those who were not part of the 6,000 student places in university owned or managed housing.

"Before our students started to arrive this weekend we were able to offer every student accommodation in Bristol or at our Langford campus," he added.

Mr Braakman said: "If I knew about the housing situation in Bristol, if it was transparent that there was not much accommodation in general, then I wouldn't choose Bristol."

He added he would consider living in Bath, Cardiff or Newport, but said "considering Wales is a different country, it's ridiculous".

You can see more on this story on Inside Out on BBC One West at 7.30pm on Monday.