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Staying safe

Starting university is an exciting time filled with new experiences. You'll have lots of fun, but you also need to be mindful of your safety. While you're at the University of Liverpool, we'll do everything we can to help you stay safe. Find out more about how to keep yourself and your property safe when you’re on campus and in the city.

Campus support

Campus Support Services operates to ensure a safe and secure crime-free environment within the University community, through the provision of a proactive and vigilant Campus Support team. They offer a 24/7 chaperone service to escort any student, staff or visitor around the University campus to ensure that they feel safe whilst on our site. To request this service, please contact the control room on 0151 794 3252.

If you or anyone else is in immediate danger, please call the police or ambulance service on 999.

Stay safe on nights out

Liverpool is an incredible city to live and study in. You'll no doubt want to make the most out of it, including visiting many of the pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants in the area. Follow these simple tips to make sure you plan a safe night out with your new friends:

  • Drink responsibly. You're far more vulnerable when you are drunk, especially if you're on your own. Stay with a group of friends. Eat before you go out, and try to alternate alcoholic drinks with soft drinks.
  • Never leave your drink unattended or accept a drink from a stranger if you didn’t see it being prepared.
  • Know your limits and stay in control. Find out more about Drink Less Enjoy More.
  • Plan your journey home before you set off. Pre-book a taxi or arrange a lift with a non-drinker. Perhaps even select one of your group to be the designated driver.
  • Remember to use a licensed taxi or black cab. Don’t hitchhike or accept lifts from strangers.
  • Remember, there's safety in numbers. Don't wander off on your own. If you do walk home, stick to main roads which are well-populated, even if it means taking a longer alternative route. Avoid poorly lit areas including alleyways.
  • If you travel alone on public transport, avoid waiting alone at isolated bus stops.
  • Travel sensibly. Listening with headphones or talking on the phone while out and about reduces your awareness of what’s around you.
  • If you need to withdraw cash, try to do it during the day when there are more people around. You should only take out what you need. Make sure you protect your PIN. If you do need to withdraw cash late at night, use a machine in a well-lit area and stay with friends.
  • Be aware of strangers asking for money. Many organisations in Liverpool can help vulnerable people, so you shouldn’t hand over money. If you are on campus and concerned about people asking for money, please direct the person to Campus Support on Bedford Street, opposite the Sports Centre. If you feel threatened, call the team on 0151 794 2222 (in an emergency) or 0151 794 3252 (non-emergency) and ask for assistance.
  • Never get involved in violence. Even if you didn’t start a fight you can still be fined or arrested for being involved.
  • Attract help if you need it. If you feel threatened, make as much noise as possible. This will help you to identify yourself, warn off the individual and attract help from others.

Protect your home and property

University is likely to be the first time you will be living away from home. You'll deal with the responsibilities that come with your independence for the first time. Here are some tips to keep your home and your property safe:

  • If you are leaving the house, remember to always lock all doors and windows and activate any house alarms. When you are at home, all external doors should be locked with a key.
  • Light timers are a good way of making it appear that a house or flat is occupied.
  • Protect your valuables. Keep them out of sight in your home and close curtains at night.
  • Don’t leave laptops, tablets, or phones unattended, even in the library.
  • Opening the windows to ventilate your home is important to prevent mould and damp. Secure your UPVC window by only opening to the first-stage locking point. If you leave the room or the house, secure it fully by locking the window with the key.
  • Don't leave the packaging from expensive goods you have bought outside next to your bin. Instead, take it to a recycling bin or tip.
  • Remember to register your possessions for free with Immobilise, the national property register, to improve the chances of getting them back in the event of theft.
  • If you live in halls or shared accommodation, make sure you know who is following you into the building and don’t hold the door open for strangers.

For more information and advice about enhancing your personal and property safety, contact our friendly Campus Support team on 0151 794 3252 or visit the Liverpool Student Homes website. The University also has a dedicated Police Officer who works alongside our Campus Support Services team and can offer practical safety advice.

Look after your mental health

Your mental health is as important as your physical health and it is vital to seek help if you feel stressed, depressed or vulnerable. There are lots of support services and resources available at the University including: 

You can contact Student Services via phone on 0151 795 1000 or via email at advice@liverpool.ac.uk. Alternatively, you can visit the Student Services website for information on how to book appointments.

Being vigilant to fraud and scams

Fraudulent behaviour targeted toward students is an ever-growing risk. However, you can protect yourself. 

The most common ways students will be targeted is by email or over the phone. Here’s what you need to be aware of:

Phone scams

The most common phone scams include:

  • ‘SMiSHing’ (SMS phishing) is when a scammer sends texts asking for sensitive information like your personal or financial details. These often look like they’re from a legitimate company. Don’t reply, delete the message instead.
  • Callers claiming to be from UK government bodies, for example, HMRC, telling you that you must pay an outstanding tax bill.
  • Scams offering compensation for an accident (real or not) that you’ve had. Again, don’t reply to these, not even if the text asks you to reply ‘STOP’ to opt-out of further messages. Just delete the message.
  • Scammers accessing your personal and private information when you are using public WiFi. Be aware of your surroundings and of who’s around you when using a mobile device to go online in public. Don’t, where possible, share personal information when you’re using a public WiFi connection.

If you or someone you know is approached with these types of calls or messages, stop all contact and ask for advice from someone you trust. Criminals operate in silence. If you talk about it, you raise awareness and help protect others.

Report it by calling local Police on 101 or 999 in an emergency.

Contact the independent charity CrimeStoppers anonymously online or by calling 0800 555 111.

Email scams

Despite the best efforts of robust University systems, we know from experience that scammers target students with malicious emails. Unfortunately, this leads some people to become victims of fraud.

A phishing email is a fake email message that claims to be from an organisation you may trust. For example, a company, bank, government or from the University. A phishing email will often ask you to provide or “verify” personal or account details by clicking on a link or replying to the email.

You should always be vigilant. Check your emails to see if they are genuine. Make sure you don’t give out personal information.

To help you stay safe, follow these top tips:

  • Check all links within emails before clicking on them. To check a link before clicking on it, hover your mouse over the link. When you hover over the link, you should see the web address appear in a preview box. It may well be different from the visible text that you can see in the email. This can give you a clue that the email is not genuine.
  • Never give out your personal information. Legitimate organisations never ask for your personal details by email. For example, a bank would never ask for your bank account, PIN, password or contact details via email. In doubt? Ring the organisation using the phone number advertised on their main website or visit their official webpage instead.
  • Do not open attachments from people you don’t know or if you’re not expecting them. Your bank, the government, and reputable companies like the Royal Mail, eBay or Amazon, rarely send attachments.
  • Watch out for instructions like "verify your account" or ‘"if you don’t respond within xx hours, your account will be closed’" An example of this would be: "Your library account has expired, therefore you must reactivate it immediately or it will be closed automatically. If you intend to use this service in the future, you must take action at once. To reactivate your account, simply visit the following page and log in with your library account".
  • Look out for spelling mistakes and poor grammar. If you spot spelling mistakes or poor grammar, this may be a sign that the message is a phishing email.
  • In doubt? Don’t engage with the email. Don't open attachments or follow any links. If you want to check to see if the email is genuine, contact the organisation that appears to have sent it by visiting their official website to find their genuine contact details. If you are still in any doubt, get in touch with the IT Service Desk for advice about whether the email is malicious or not.