The manager of an Arbroath bar says her personal experience of having her drink spiked inspired a new safety idea.
Chrystina Morrison has been manager of the town’s Anchor Bar for three years.
Since the 30-year-old took the helm, the pub has offered customers drinks covers to protect their beverages.
She wants the bar to be a “safe space” where locals feel safe – and claims drink spiking is becoming “more and more common”.
Chrystina told The Courier: “If something can be done to prevent it or at least try and make some kind of a difference, then we can be that safe space.
“We’ve offered it since we opened and I’ve had them at every establishment that I’ve worked in.
“The police actually approached me when we first opened and asked me where we had got them from.
“So I gave them some to give to other pubs.”
Arbroath pub boss says spiking was ‘horrible experience’
Her idea to offer drinks covers at the bar came years after she was spiked on a night out in Dundee.
“It’s happened to me before,” she said.
“A few years ago I went out in a pub in Dundee – many, many moons ago – and it’s just a horrible experience.
“You see it happen all the time.
“It’s happened to a few of my friends on nights out and you hear about it lots.”
Chrystina’s drink safety scheme started around the same time a huge rise in spiking cases was reported across Scotland, with data putting Dundee in the spotlight.
It led to a boycott of nightclubs and bars.
Police later revealed no forensic proof of spiking by injection in Scotland was found.
Chrystina says women and men have responded to her idea.
She said: “I’ve had a couple men ask me if they fit over pint glasses and they do because they’re quite adjustable.
“It’s not just women [spiking happens to].
“People do it [spiking] for ‘fun’ which is the most bizarre concept to me ever.
“They do it to people just to see what will happen and they don’t really care who they’re doing it to.”
Conversation