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residences: locked kitchens
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
does anybody who live in university halls of residences have their kitchens locked at night?
ours get locked at 10:30 because its a "health and safety" hazard for them to be left open
ours get locked at 10:30 because its a "health and safety" hazard for them to be left open
Post edited by JustV on
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its not in our contract and also, there is no clause in our contract saying that they can change the contract if they want.
we're aguing against it
Does someone come round and lock the door? Could you not just start cooking at 10:29 and force them to come back later, or have a sit-in protest?
"...Basically it is for Health and Safety reasons and also for those of noise. As the kitchens are in such proximity to study bedrooms, and in some cases are above or below bedrooms, the sound carries and becomes unfair to those students who have been allocated there. Also by locking the kitchens we have reduced the number of false fire alarm activations over night."
and their reasons for not telling us that the kitchens were locked prior to our arrival:
"We have looked at the paperwork you are sent and have noitced that there is no mention of this procedure. However, this is an oversight on our part. When the handbooks were re-written this year to include the new accommodation it seems to have been overlooked and not included."
not possible. if you refuse to leave the security guys are called and you are removed from the kitchen and reported to the Residence Team for disciplinary procedures.
thing is students would have total control if you could "get away" with everything that wasnt in terms and conditions
there will probly be some small sentence, say in the fine print of the bottom corner of those huge handbooks that say something along the lines of "we reserve the right to......"
by the way, what university is it
we've all spent sever days going over the contract. there is nothing what so ever saying they have the right to change the contract at any time. also, the only reasons they give in the contract for closing the kitchen is if it becomes a hygeine problem and needs to be cleaned.
i have a copy of the terms and conditions (in PDF format if you want to have a look through them ).
Im in Swansea University (formerly known as the University of Wales, Swansea).
Which halls are you in?
Our cleaner just leaves notes about the mess for us.
Do you have sinks in your rooms at Wheatley? Surely you need the kitchen for drinking water?
Maybe its because its catered, so they think you dont need to eat that late. In our house we're still cooking at 10pm sometimes!
people use it all night sometimes
we do have sinks in our rooms though
Our cleaners a nice guy who goes and has a break when i go in the kitchen to make breakfast.
Bopz
we're going to argue because after duscussions with various 'in the know' parents, its actually illegal as its not in our contract. it comes under trading standards law and some other obscure EU law as well. there is also a hygeine issue because when the kitchen is locked, the only water we have is from the bathrooms.
Kitchens at my uni (Reading) are right next to study bedrooms, but "large gatherings" of people in them are not permitted and the kitchen gets locked if people are too noisy at night.
also, we have a common room on every floor that is situated next to study bedrooms, and surely more noise is made in the common room than the kitchen! anyway, we're going to argue and get them reopened because we're stick to death. there are people in our flat who work frm 4pm till 10, and by the time they get back, the kitchen is locked and the campus catering is closed down so they have nowhere to eat and no way to cook food.
if its not in the contract then its not illegal, if they had mentioned in the contract that they would provide set hours of access and then broke them, that would be illegal
but as its not mentioned in the contract, you pay for your rooms etc and the breakfast, and with no mention in the contract, you dont appear to be making a legal deal with these people to use these kitchens, therefore they can do what the hell they like, and its not trading standards law, its the trades description act, which in itself while vaguely similar is a subtley different kettle of fish
We were sold accommodation under the impression that we had 24 hour kitchen access. We were not informed that the kitchens were locked until after we had paid. The university is as such providing substandard accommodation and has broken the trade descriptions act. Also, they are denying us access to our posessions by locking the kitchen overnight and are not providing us with fresh drinking water. As a result, the university is up s**t creek
They won't make the same mistake again... they will make sure it goes into next years contract but since they messed up and left it out of this years there isnt anything they can do about it.
They are going to leave our kitchens open from now on
even better cause it should be at least 2 doors, thats why you often dont see a kitchen door leading directly into a toilet