Injection spiking: New medical help from charity after rise in reports

The charity already runs its Safe Space scheme in four English cities

A medical charity is expanding the number of late-night treatment sites it runs in response to an increase in injection spiking reports.

New spaces in Leeds and Nottingham are among the 40 locations St John Ambulance aims to be in across the UK by the end of 2021.

Authorities in both cities are investigating reports of attacks.

The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said 274 incidents had been logged since September.

Boycotts of bars and clubs have been held in a number of cities in protest over the rise in cases.

Jade Quittenton, from the charity, said the organisation already had the safe space scheme running in Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester and Norwich.

"Our night-time economy programme offers safe treatment spaces where St John Ambulance teams provide medical help for revellers seeking help during a night out, and we're seeing greater demand for our services as more suspected spiking incidents are reported," she said.

"Concerns around the rise in spikings is one of the reasons we're accelerating the rollout of our support for safer nights out across England."

The charity advised people to look out for loss of balance, fatigue, lowering of inhibitions, visual problems, confusion, vomiting and unconsciousness as signs that someone might have been spiked.

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Earlier this month, a parliamentary debate heard a call for spiking with needles to be treated with the same urgency as terrorism, as MPs considered a petition urging the government to make it law for nightclubs to search guests on arrival to prevent "harmful weapons" entering.

Deputy Chief Constable Jason Harwin, from the National Police Chiefs' Council, said forces were investigating an number of incidents and working with pubs and clubs "to increase searches and guidance to staff".

"We will continue to analyse the reports and work with police forces, plus other law enforcement partners including the National Crime Agency and regional organised crime units, as investigations develop to build a problem profile and determine any further action by police or venues," he added.