The same year there were an estimated 2.3 million victims of spiking in the UK. According to the ONS, that is more than the number of people who voted for the Green party in the UK’s most recent general election.
It’s a crime which is chronically under-reported, overwhelmingly common and certainly on the rise. There’s been a 360% increase in ‘drink spiking’ offences reported to the Met Police since 2018. But 90% of victims do not even go as far as to report, according to research published this month by Drinkaware. Why? Roughly half said “they didn’t see the point”.
What is it like to be a victim of spiking?
Annie (not her real name) was spiked on a night out with friends in London last year. She went to bed late that night and woke up the next day at 6pm, unable to stand up without vomiting.
The worst bit wasn’t just being sick but feeling so weak and my whole body was just in pain. It felt like I’d run a marathon.
Annie
She decided to phone 111, and after answering a “whole list of questions that [weren’t] relevant…whilst feeling like death on the end of the phone”, was met with doubt: “are you sure it’s not just a really bad hangover?”
It was only the day after, when she noticed needle marks on her arm, that she realised, contrary to professional opinion, it was not ‘just a really bad hangover’.
Will Labour’s new legislation help?
Following Labour’s commitment to make spiking a specific criminal offence, Prime Minister Keir Starmer hopes victims will feel more comfortable to come forward. Gina Miller, business owner, activist and domestic abuse survivor, believes this new legislation is a positive shift on the “surface level”, but lacks the “depth” in which “we need institutional change”.
We’re going to bring these laws in. Who’s going to police them? […] I can tell you as a survivor that police are not trained in dealing with women and girls or domestic abuse or violence.
Gina Miller
Miller added, “Young women are having to do things like wear nail
varnishes that change colour, wear thin leather jackets so they don’t have needles going through them. Women and young girls shouldn’t be the ones protecting themselves…society should be protecting them”.
Gina Miller, business woman and activist.
Labour’s new legislation is being supported by a nationwide training programme run by UK Hospitality. When contacted, CEO Kate Nicholls said she was committed to “ensuring all staff know how to prevent spiking and have the skills to act if they suspect someone has been
spiked”.
When this was put to Tom (not his real name), who was spiked alongside his girlfriend at a party aged 18, he paused, raising his eyebrows – “so are bar staff the police now?”
Tom and his girlfriend were spiked by a friend of a friend: “The same guy had done it at different parties. Basically, it was a trend. People would have known his name”.
When they told the girl who had hosted, Tom said she was shocked but dismissive. There was a mutual understanding that “Southwest London is just like that”.
What other measures are in place to help?
A survey by Drinkaware found that if measures were taken to prevent spiking (only 5% of venues surveyed said they had measures in place), the most common was CCTV, followed by reporting schemes like Ask for Angela. While CCTV might show the crime in action, it does not
prevent it. Add to that the recent BBC investigation, that revealed over half of London venues didn’t know what the codeword ‘Angela’ meant, and it is no wonder that Annie thinks we “haven’t tackled that baseline problem of women feeling safe”. The survey admitted that research had not actually been done into which methods effectively prevented spiking.
And the danger is sometimes closer to home than you might think: although most incidents of spiking took place in bars and clubs (69.6% in 2023), 15.6% of needling incidents took place at a private home and 20.7% at a private event, according to Drinkaware.
It’s just another statistic that is “absolutely destroying the confidence that we have a society that’s really protecting women and girls”, as Miller highlighted. When we think of spiking, we often think of violence in a public space, but it can be a part of domestic abuse as well – the Gisèle Pelicot rape case is a shocking recent example.
At least one in every twelve women will be a victim of violence each year, with the exact number expected to be much higher, according to statistics published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council.
The figures are growing – but how do we stop it? Miller is saddened as we “seem to be seeing real retrograde steps to the rights that women have fought so long for”. Tom believes that the Tea video (remember that?) is not enough.
Our teachers would always get so sheepish in sex education. Making it taboo makes it much harder to solve.
Tom
Miller agrees – we need a complete change of the system. “There is so much work to do. Courts are not trained enough, judges are not trained enough…Society has to look really differently at how we value women”.
The same year there were an estimated 2.3 million victims of spiking in the UK. According to the ONS, that is more than the number of people who voted for the Green party in the UK’s most recent general election.
It’s a crime which is chronically under-reported, overwhelmingly common and certainly on the rise. There’s been a 360% increase in ‘drink spiking’ offences reported to the Met Police since 2018. But 90% of victims do not even go as far as to report, according to research published this month by Drinkaware. Why? Roughly half said “they didn’t see the point”.
What is it like to be a victim of spiking?
Annie (not her real name) was spiked on a night out with friends in London last year. She went to bed late that night and woke up the next day at 6pm, unable to stand up without vomiting.
The worst bit wasn’t just being sick but feeling so weak and my whole body was just in pain. It felt like I’d run a marathon.
Annie
She decided to phone 111, and after answering a “whole list of questions that [weren’t] relevant…whilst feeling like death on the end of the phone”, was met with doubt: “are you sure it’s not just a really bad hangover?”
It was only the day after, when she noticed needle marks on her arm, that she realised, contrary to professional opinion, it was not ‘just a really bad hangover’.
Will Labour’s new legislation help?
Following Labour’s commitment to make spiking a specific criminal offence, Prime Minister Keir Starmer hopes victims will feel more comfortable to come forward. Gina Miller, business owner, activist and domestic abuse survivor, believes this new legislation is a positive shift on the “surface level”, but lacks the “depth” in which “we need institutional change”.
We’re going to bring these laws in. Who’s going to police them? […] I can tell you as a survivor that police are not trained in dealing with women and girls or domestic abuse or violence.
Gina Miller
Miller added, “Young women are having to do things like wear nail
varnishes that change colour, wear thin leather jackets so they don’t have needles going through them. Women and young girls shouldn’t be the ones protecting themselves…society should be protecting them”.
Gina Miller, business woman and activist.
Labour’s new legislation is being supported by a nationwide training programme run by UK Hospitality. When contacted, CEO Kate Nicholls said she was committed to “ensuring all staff know how to prevent spiking and have the skills to act if they suspect someone has been
spiked”.
When this was put to Tom (not his real name), who was spiked alongside his girlfriend at a party aged 18, he paused, raising his eyebrows – “so are bar staff the police now?”
Tom and his girlfriend were spiked by a friend of a friend: “The same guy had done it at different parties. Basically, it was a trend. People would have known his name”.
When they told the girl who had hosted, Tom said she was shocked but dismissive. There was a mutual understanding that “Southwest London is just like that”.
What other measures are in place to help?
A survey by Drinkaware found that if measures were taken to prevent spiking (only 5% of venues surveyed said they had measures in place), the most common was CCTV, followed by reporting schemes like Ask for Angela. While CCTV might show the crime in action, it does not
prevent it. Add to that the recent BBC investigation, that revealed over half of London venues didn’t know what the codeword ‘Angela’ meant, and it is no wonder that Annie thinks we “haven’t tackled that baseline problem of women feeling safe”. The survey admitted that research had not actually been done into which methods effectively prevented spiking.
And the danger is sometimes closer to home than you might think: although most incidents of spiking took place in bars and clubs (69.6% in 2023), 15.6% of needling incidents took place at a private home and 20.7% at a private event, according to Drinkaware.
It’s just another statistic that is “absolutely destroying the confidence that we have a society that’s really protecting women and girls”, as Miller highlighted. When we think of spiking, we often think of violence in a public space, but it can be a part of domestic abuse as well – the Gisèle Pelicot rape case is a shocking recent example.
At least one in every twelve women will be a victim of violence each year, with the exact number expected to be much higher, according to statistics published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council.
The figures are growing – but how do we stop it? Miller is saddened as we “seem to be seeing real retrograde steps to the rights that women have fought so long for”. Tom believes that the Tea video (remember that?) is not enough.
Our teachers would always get so sheepish in sex education. Making it taboo makes it much harder to solve.
Tom
Miller agrees – we need a complete change of the system. “There is so much work to do. Courts are not trained enough, judges are not trained enough…Society has to look really differently at how we value women”.
