‘I was told I was too drunk’: York students expose spiking incidents at SU club nights

A number of alleged spiking incidents have recently been reported in clubs across York.

Students from the University of York have spoken out about instances where they believe to have had drinks tampered with or have been spiked via injection whilst on nights out across the city.

Societies are now encouraging the boycott of clubs where incidents have allegedly occurred in an effort to improve safety of York nights out.

After its initiation on March 7th, the boycott of Club Salvation forced it to close early at around 12am.

The result of the boycott was shared by popular meme page I’m Just York on Instagram, where it shared videos of the club looking derelict.

As well as societies, the boycott had been encouraged by I’m Just York in a series of Instagram posts shared from March 6th.

Following the boycott on the 7th, Club Salvation did not open to the public on Friday 14th March. However, a spokesperson from Salvation told The York Tab that the club was full on Wednesday 12th March, another official student night.

via @imjustyork_ on Instagram

Despite the boycott initially being directed at Club Salvation, students reported spikings across a number of other clubs to The York Tab.

Amy* claimed to The York Tab that she was spiked whilst on a night out, outside Club Salvation on Wednesday 26th March. She explained how the alleged spiking was via an injection as she waited to enter the venue.

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Amy claimed: “I was spiked last Wednesday at [Club] Salvation. It happened in the queue, not even within the club. The bouncers watched me go from practically sober to absolutely slaughtered in a matter of about half an hour.”

Despite being “practically sober”, Amy claimed that the bouncers believed she was too drunk to enter the club. She added: “The bouncers didn’t pay much attention, I was told I was too drunk when it was very clear it was more than just too much to drink.”

Another student, Jay*, told The York Tab that out of the handful of occasions she visited Salvos, she claims she was spiked on two of them: “I’ve been to Salvos five times, I was spiked two of those times.” Jay explained that both incidents occurred on student nights, on a Wednesday and Friday.

Other students reported allegations of spikings at Revolution York to The York Tab. Rosie* reported being allegedly spiked by needle on Sunday 2nd March.

Rosie described how door staff “didn’t check bags upon arrival or student IDs”, flagging the safety and security of students on SU nights out.

University of York Students’ Union is currently in partnership with Club Salvation, with the official student nights being Wednesdays and Fridays. The SU recently shared a statement about the safety of nightclubs in York, declining reports of spiking instances. In the statement, it confirmed: “York SU has not received any recent reports of spiking at any students’ union club nights.”

The statement further assured that the safety and wellbeing of students is the SU’s number one priority, sharing that it is listening to concerns.

An email sent to societies within the University of York also outlined how the SU was proactively reviewing students’ concerns about nights out: “While we are also proactively reviewing concern at YorkSU nights out, we have also not yet received any official reports via our designating form.”

Freddy Russell, York SU’s Community and Wellbeing Officer, told The York Tab: “As discussed in our statement on the subject this week, we know students are very concerned about night safety. In that statement we outlined a number of safety measures in place at every YorkSU club night.”

Freddy re-emphasised the importance of taking the official SU steps in response to spiking incidents: “If anyone has experienced anything that made them feel unsafe on a YorkSU club night, we urge them to report it on our reporting form.

“This helps us understand more about students’ experience on our nights, give clearer information to students, and make changes to address concerns where necessary.”

On Thursday March 13th, Club Salvation and York Parties issued a joint statement on their Instagram pages, acknowledging the allegations of spiking at their venues over the past month.

In the statement, both organisations promised students that they are making a commitment to protect them on nights out at their venue. Part of thr statement read: “You deserve to enjoy your nights out without doubt or worry creeping in.”

The following day, Friday 14th March, representatives from Club Salvation, York Parties, and York SU held a drop-in session in The Lounge on campus, inviting students to come and voice their concerns.

Yor Party Network also posted on its Instagram page to inform students that it is also taking further precautions to prevent spiking at its events.

In an exclusive statement to The York Tab, Yor Party Network outlined its policy on spiking and security measures in place to protect clubbers: “We take reports of spikings very seriously, if anybody believes they’ve had such an experience at our nights we urge them to come to us as soon as possible so we can get to work in assisting them and to put further measures in place to ensure the safety of others.

“We currently have in place drinks covers, extra security, bag checks, more frequency venue checks throughout the night, testing kits and regular, hands on meetings with door staff to make sure they’re fully aware and know what to look out for.”

A newly created Instagram account, @yorcan.makeadifference, is also sharing information and reports online to encourage greater safety precautions to combat the alleged rise in spikings.

A previous version of this article mistakenly included a reference to Ziggy’s Bar – The Tab would like to apologise for this error. 

YUSU, Club Salvation, Yor Party Network and Revolution York were contacted for comment.