Out of the box

An enterprising University of Dundee undergraduate has done some creative thinking 'inside the box' to solve an age-old problem for students.

Samantha Davie, who is about to start her fourth-year studying Economics at Dundee, is one of thousands of students who every year struggle to carry books and baggage between university and their parents' home.

In Samantha's case, she has either had to rely on her parents to make the six-hour round trip by car from Alnwick in Northumberland, or take public transport whilst clinging on to as much as she could possibly carry.

But having spent the summer holidays working with Gateshead-based Van Hee Transport, she has now come up with an ingeneous idea that will undoubtedly help her and thousands of students like here move their belongings between university and home.

It works like this: students order a huge cardboard box from Van Hee, which they fill up with their possessions; they then call the company when they want it moved. Van Hee, based at Felling in Gateshead, delivers the box almost anywhere in the UK the next day for around £40.

Samantha's parents, Norrie and Lynda Davie said that they were delighted with their daughter's ingenuity. And who can blame them? There aren't many folks in the world that would think of using a cardboard box in such a novel fashion, are there?

Students interested in the new service can find more information at the company's website at http://www.anywareuk.co.uk. That's where I went to discover that the £30 box itself measures a whopping 108 cm x 88 cm x 90 cm.

Now some students may be a tad concerned at this juncture as to how they'll be able to get such a huge beast into, or out of, the cramped quarters of their student accommodation.

But there should be no bona fide cause for concern. Because they are evidently not the sort that could afford to consider the services of the company in the first place.