Young people in Bradford are hoping to curb a potentially dangerous online drinking trend by starting a positive craze to benefit the community.

RAK nominations involve young people performing a ‘random act of kindness’ and here in Bradford they are proving a positive alternative to Neknomination – an online drinking game said to be implicated in several deaths.

Bradford University student Christian Black said he does not have a problem with social drinking, but described downing a concoction of spirits and other booze as a “mindless activity”.

“Having seen more extreme cases in the news, however, I also came to the opinion it was a form of bullying – peer pressure to binge drink,” Mr Black said. “When a friend of mine was nominated I found myself having a heated discussion in University about the trend.”

After being nominated to do it and inspired by a video he had seen of someone doing a good deed instead, he decided to turn his nomination into a random act of kindness.

“For my video I chose a good deed relevant to my life. After some thinking I chose to sign-up for the mental health charity, Mind. Of course, I still had to down a pint – only I drank a personal favourite, Capri Sun.”

Mr Black, a student on the university’s automotive design course, nominated fellow student and friend Joe Topps, who chose to put £10 into his lecturer’s retirement fund.

“He has been a great help to me and a lot of people on the course. He has been here a long time and he’s retiring at the end of this year, so I thought it would be a good idea to put £10 in an envelope as a leaving present,” said Mr Topps.

He then nominated student, Katrina Sodhi. The clinical sciences graduate used her RAK nomination to buy a sandwich and a drink for a homeless girl. “Rather than give the money and to know where the money was going I thought I would buy a sandwich,” she said.

Steffy Bechelet, women’s and liberation officer for Bradford University, said: “I think it is great our students are starting to turn something around which has been a negative public craze and help the community.”