A council worker throws a bucket of sand to soak up vomit on the stained pavement. It’s 2.30am and while Sheffield’s students stumble home with their kebabs, the clean-up operation is underway.
Carnage is over for another semester.
Just two weeks after Sheffield Hallam student Phillip Laing sparked national outrage by urinating on a war memorial, Carnage UK defied calls to cancel its notorious student bar crawl and brought another night of chaos to the city centre with five students arrested for public order offences.
Despite the anger towards the organisers, there was never any danger of Carnage being cancelled.
After all, the crawl makes thousands for Varsity Leisure, the company which owns the Carnage UK brand, charging pubs a fee for being involving in the mass bar crawl as well as pocketing around £20,000 from T-shirt sales.
But while Inderpaul Bahia, the 29-year-old director of Varsity Leisure, rakes in thousands from the comfort of his luxury Buckinghamshire home, Sheffield’s council and police are left to deal with the consequences of a mass student booze-up described by council leader Paul Scriven as “a trail of destruction”.
Despite it being a Sunday night, seven more police officers are required on duty than a normal Saturday night out, while bulky security guards surround the war memorial where Phillip Laing urinated on the wreaths placed in remembrance of those who died, just weeks earlier.
With over 2,000 students taking to the streets, it isn’t long before trouble breaks out. At 11.45pm, police and event stewards begin to move revellers away from West Street after a scuffle breaks out between students and a local man.
Two hours later, a 21-year-old female student is arrested after trying to steal a policeman’s helmet, with officers having to pin the woman to the ground.
The visible security and police presence doesn’t put off one student though, who is caught urinating on the street just yards from the memorial where Laing provoked a national outcry.
After being spotted by security, the student sprints across the street, hitting the side of a parked car before being stopped by a council worker. He is detained by police and arrested.
My eyewitness experiences of Carnage are nothing unique.
Similarly shocking scenes have been replicated across the county, with Carnage UK operating bar crawls in 46 university towns and cities nationwide, with around 350,000 students taking part each year.
The events have angered universities and alcohol abuse campaigners, who claim the bar crawls promote binge drinking and irresponsible behaviour.
Chris Sorek, chief executive of Drinkaware, said: “Pub crawls often encourage drinking to get drunk but this kind of activity can result in sexual assault, having a serious accident or being a victim of crime.
“Binge drinking can also increase the chances of serious health conditions like liver damage, some cancers and depression.”
Carnage UK insists that these incidents are rare and their events do not promote binge drinking. They also claim that their team of student volunteers are on hand to steward the event and prevent drunken students from causing trouble.
However, the Forge Press can reveal that Carnage stewards receive little meaningful training and are enticed to take part by the offer of free alcohol.
While stewards aren’t allowed to drink alcohol during the bar crawl, they receive five free alcoholic drinks at the final club with some getting so drunk they can barely stand.
One steward, who did not want to be named, said: “You have to do some training but it’s mainly just being told to be polite and give lots of pleases and thank-yous.
“Most of the night is a good laugh and once you’re in the final club you get five free drinks to help you get pissed.”
Some believe that Carnage should have to provide professionally trained stewards like at major sporting events, instead of recruiting inexperienced volunteers from their website.
The sleazy fancy dress and boozy antics of Carnage seems much of the attraction for students, but the reality is that this event costs thousands for the police and council to maintain and has brought Sheffield’s students into disrepute.
Paul Scriven, leader of Sheffield City Council said he is furious that Varsity Leisure are profiting from “encouraging young people to binge drink and cause mayhem.”
He said: “Regardless of the moral arguments, if these events leave a trail of destruction behind them then it’s clear to me that Carnage UK should be paying for the resulting costs rather than leaving the taxpayer to foot the bill.
“There is nothing wrong with young people or anyone else going out to enjoy a drink in Sheffield’s many excellent bars, pubs and clubs.
“However, we need to come down hard on those who we think are using binge drinking as an easy way of making a quick buck.”
Last month’s Carnage could be the last time the bar crawl hits Sheffield’s streets.
In a bid to clamp down on future events, Cllr Scriven has written to all of the city’s bars and clubs reminding them of their licensing responsibilities and stating that participation in bar crawls will be considered when reviewing pub’s alcohol licences.
At a meeting of Sheffield City Council on Wednesday, councillors voted to investigate ways of recovering the costs of cleaning up after Carnage and urged South Yorkshire Police and the NHS to consider billing the promoter for the extra police and ambulance services needed for such events.
The city council’s action comes in the same week that District Judge Anthony Browne condemned Carnage for encouraging anti-social behaviour. He said: “Carnage is the name of the organisation who promotes this type of activity and some might say that somebody should be standing [in the dock] alongside you [Laing].”
In October, universities and venues in Birmingham managed to get a Carnage UK event cancelled after claiming that Varsity Leisure were hijacking union affiliated bar crawls which raise thousands of pounds for local charities.
And in April, the National Union of Students made policy dictating that students’ unions were not to associate with Carnage UK.
But while council regulations may clamp down on future events, Carnage’s 350,000 customers will ultimately vote with their feet.