A student has made a complaint about being “harassed” by Leeds Marrow volunteers.

On Monday a promotion day for Leeds Marrow at the Union urged students to provide spit samples in the hope of being potential donors.

However, concerns were raised regarding the ways in which volunteers conduct themselves when one student stated that he felt “harassed” upon being approached.

Rebecca Fellows, a third year student, commented, “I signed onto the register last year, but I always get asked if I want to provide a spit sample. Their tactics need to be reviewed.”

The event on Monday was one of two scheduled events that are due to be held at the Union this year. Leeds Marrow has signed up 5, 500 people in the last three years combined, potentially saving over 55 lives. Over 400 people also decided to sign up at the Riley Smith clinic Leeds Marrow ran.

According to the charity, “results have shown that having multiple volunteers around campus leads to four times the number of people joining the register”.

The president of the charity, Nick Raynor, told LS: “We wholeheartedly apologise to anyone who was unhappy with the way they were approached by our volunteers. It is certainly not our intention to make people feel uncomfortable and we take all feedback of this nature very seriously.”

Mr Raynor added, “We do not force students to become involved. Some of our volunteers, despite their friendly intentions, are less experienced and can be very eager but we re-train to make sure everybody is meeting high standards.”

Fiona Tomas

Photo: Greg Sturge