I don't want freshers to feel as unsafe as I did...'

GRADUATES LAUNCH THEIR PERSONAL SAFETY APP FOR STUDENTS

- By GEORGE PALMER-SOADY

WHEN Eloise Paling was in her first year at Nottingham Trent University, she did not go out to bars or clubs as she feared for her safety.

It was 2023, soon after the horrific events of that June, when knife-wielding paranoid schizophrenic Valdo Calocane killed two University of Nottingham students, as well as caretaker Ian Coates.

“I was too scared to go out - you'd also hear all these stories of people being spiked,” Eloise, 23, said.

“When the attacks happened, people came together and started thinking 'this isn’t right' and things need to be safer.

“I don't want freshers now to feel like I did then.”

Alongside fellow NTU graduate Monica Ghuman, 21, Eloise is launching a phone app designed to make students feel safer.

The free app will enable students to notify each other about incidents and create “safe routes” for users to get from A to B.