Colchester bars 'doing everything they can' to protect drinkers

Beverley Oxford, Colchester councillor responsible for communities, told the meeting Colchester’s venues are taking the issue “extremely seriously”.

She said: “It is a very difficult thing. Nightclubs and venues are now doing searches, the door staff are now doing searches.

“They are being educated in people that may have been spiked, not to just think ‘Well they’re falling down drunk, aren’t they?’, but to actually go into it a little bit more.

“Obviously the venues don’t want this sort of thing happening in their clubs, because basically it’s not good for business.”

Last week student nurse Flo Musenga, 42, told the Gazette she was like “a tranquilised animal” after leaving a town centre bar.

Read more >> 'I was like a tranquilised animal' - Nurse and mother believes she was spiked

She reported during a night out on November 6, she was approached by a strange man who asked her to come back to his home.

A short time later she says she “could barely walk” and began vomiting blood.

“My eyes kept rolling back into my head, I could not move and was completely unresponsive on the floor,” she said.

In response to this report, the owner of the bar said CCTV had been scoured covering Flo’s visit, but nothing suspicious was seen.

He added: “We have a 100 per cent search policy in place on entry, all drinks left unattended are removed and poured away, and we have extensive CCTV footage of 58 cameras covering all areas of the bar.

“We have also recently requested testing kits to further aid us in the event of any allegations of drink spiking.”

Councillor Oxford told the meeting: “They’re doing everything they can, they’re supplying water so people can have a bit of a break, in some venues any drinks left unattended are automatically tipped away.

“It’s an absolutely dreadful thing. Everybody is concerned and doing everything they possibly can to stop this disgraceful act.

“Why anybody would think that’s a thing to do I haven’t got a clue.”