{"id":402,"date":"2025-11-15T10:11:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T10:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/badvibes.live\/?p=402"},"modified":"2025-11-15T10:11:51","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T10:11:51","slug":"the-clean-up-crews-targeting-vulnerable-university-students-after-dark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badvibes.live\/?p=402","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018clean-up crews\u2019 targeting vulnerable university students after dark"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

As first years spill out of clubs in the early hours, relishing their newfound freedom, sleek cars sit idling just beyond the\u00a0bouncers<\/a>\u00a0and barriers.<\/p>\n

Behind the wheel are men who aren\u2019t there to\u00a0party<\/a>; they\u2019re there to pick up. Known as the clean-up crew, they\u2019ve become a troubling fixture of the UK\u2019s student nightlife scene.<\/p>\n

The term, circulating widely on\u00a0social media<\/a>, refers to groups of men who linger outside nightclubs, bars, and even concerts, targeting young women as they leave, often preying on those who are drunk or trying to find their way back to campus.<\/p>\n

\u2018They don\u2019t actually go to the club event, they just come when it finishes, wait around outside to talk to girls and give them\u00a0drugs<\/a>\u00a0and all sorts,\u2019 Natalie, a Portsmouth University student<\/p>\n

Their presence, she explains, is predictable. \u2018At every event there\u2019s always a group outside\u2026 the bigger the event, the bigger the crowd waiting.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The worst I\u2019ve experienced was actually in\u00a0London<\/a>. Clean-up crew is a whole different ball game there. They come with Mercedes, Bentleys, and\u00a0Range Rovers<\/a>, and none of them are uni students. They are older men, some even in their 40s.\u2019<\/p>\n

Natalie has been approached several times and reveals the extent certain men will go. \u2018They\u2019re very, very persistent. They\u2019ll offer you everything. I\u2019ve been promised\u00a0holidays<\/a>, free flights, all sorts. They take it to the max just to get you home.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2018Each one targets a specific girl\u2019<\/h2>\n

The student also described how these groups deliberately isolate women to increase their control. \u2018If you\u2019re in a group of four girls and four men approach you, each one targets a specific girl. If one girl then decides to go off to his house, a divide is created,\u2019 Natalie explains.<\/p>\n

She recalled one night that has stuck with her since. \u2018One girl was really, really drunk; she couldn\u2019t even stand. This guy managed to get her to his car, she was sitting in the back seat, and her friends were saying, \u201cPlease, can you let her go? She\u2019s not capable of making her own decisions.\u201d The guy who owned the car was giving her balloon after balloon [of\u00a0Nitrous Oxide<\/a>]. She was already visibly intoxicated. I\u2019ve seen some very bad situations.\u2019<\/p>\n

When asked what protocols were in place to protect students from this type of behaviour, a spokesperson from\u00a0Portsmouth<\/a>\u00a0University told Metro: \u2018We have a number of safety initiatives to help students enjoy a safe night out that we promote throughout the year. In addition, our Report & Support tool enables students to raise concerns, so that we can take appropriate action and develop proactive initiatives.\u2019<\/p>\n

However, Natalie says her peers are reluctant to report these incidents as clean-up crew culture, for the most part, has become normalised online.<\/p>\n

\u2018For men, it\u2019s seen as just a fun thing to do. But for girls, it\u2019s not safe at all. If you\u2019re not with a good bunch of friends that are looking after you, it can go left really quickly.\u2019<\/p>\n

Viral vultures<\/h2>\n

While there are some posts warning students about dangers of clean-up crews,\u00a0TikTok<\/a>\u00a0and Snapchat are also flooded with clips showing the men at\u00a0work<\/a>, circling nightlife hotspots in their cars.<\/p>\n

In several videos, young women can be seen chatting through tinted windows before hopping into the passenger seat. One clip captioned \u2018clean up crew getting ready to take all the 1st years home after a motive\u2019 has been liked by thousands.<\/p>\n

Comment sections are filled with men defending the practice. \u2018There\u2019s no supply without demand,\u2019 one wrote. Another added: \u2018They are waiting to get swept.\u2019 Others suggest it\u2019s a fair exchange: \u2018Clean-up crews are glorified\u00a0Uber<\/a>\u00a0drivers. Girls don\u2019t want to pay for a cab; they want a dashboard snap.\u2019<\/p>\n

Hired for the hunt<\/h2>\n

Cardiff<\/a>\u00a0University student Kae shared a video on TikTok during freshers in September, claiming local clean-up crews had upped their game after spotting a Ferrari loitering around campus.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The cars themselves, often financed or even rented just for the night, are a major part of the culture. \u2018There\u2019s a group of people known to finance cars,\u2019 Kae explains. \u2018Mercedes<\/a>\u00a0are the most popular. When they go to uni events, they finance those cars specifically and then go out to do their thing.\u2019<\/p>\n

Competitiveness also plays a role. \u2018It happens in pretty much every uni city that has a good nightlife. Some of them are students themselves, others are locals. If it\u2019s a big event that everyone knows about, in a city like\u00a0Leicester<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Birmingham<\/a>, then it\u2019s very competitive.<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s always a Mercedes or BMW outside in Cardiff,\u2019 adds Kae. \u2018They usually appear around 11pm and stick around until 2am, when most students are spilling out of clubs and looking for a way home.\u2019<\/p>\n

For some students, the whole thing is a running joke. \u2018A lot of people laugh about it. It\u2019s a funny thing to them,\u2019 he admits. \u2018It\u2019s mostly just sweet talk, to be honest. Some [men] are very straight up, they\u2019re like, \u201cYo, do you want a lift home?\u201d When [girls] see a flashy black BMW or Audi, they\u2019re more likely to get in it\u2026 sometimes it\u2019s that easy.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As first years spill out of clubs in the early hours, relishing their newfound freedom, sleek cars sit idling just beyond the\u00a0bouncers\u00a0and barriers. Behind the wheel are men who aren\u2019t there to\u00a0party; they\u2019re there to pick up. Known as the clean-up crew, they\u2019ve become a troubling fixture of the UK\u2019s student nightlife scene. The term, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t