UCLan and businesses in Preston join forces to tackle spiking

It's after reports a woman was injected with an unknown substance in the city this weekend

Orchard Street, Preston City Centre
Author: Hannah MakepeacePublished 28th Oct 2021

An emergency meeting's taking place in Preston later to tackle the worrying numbers of women being spiked on nights out.

It's after reports a woman was injected with an unknown substance and reports two other women had their drinks spiked at the weekend.

Police officers, pubs and club owners along with representatives from UCLan will meet this afternoon to discuss ways of keeping women safe.

Andy Mac, manager of The Ships and Giggles pub in Preston, said everyone needs to do their bit in tackling this: "Our security, our bar staff and our customers need to be more alert, and keep their eyes open.

"We need to take more decisive action, we need to do random checks, we need to search anybody who looks suspicious, it needs to be reported, and we need to take them aside and check to see if they've got anything on them.

"We have a zero tolerance approach to anything that compromises a women's safety. This is happening on our doorsteps as well as across the UK...this is scary, this is beyond a joke.

"This needs to be a city wide approach where all businesses such as pubs, clubs, the university all get together and we take decisive action. We need to do this now and we can set examples for other cities and towns alike...and we're going to try and make a difference, now."

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