Manchester club night ‘first’ to offer urine tests onsite to check for spiking

Exclusive: ‘We’re going to be using that moving forward,’ Warehouse Project founder says

Warehouse Project’s founder says the club night has rolled out onsite urine tests to check for spiking (Google Maps)

A Manchester club night has started to roll out urine tests onsite for clubbers who fear they may have been spiked.

Sacha Lord, the Warehouse Project’s founder, told The Independent it was the first place to offer these tests to clubbers.

It comes amid nightclub boycotts and calls for greater action to tackle spiking.

Nearly 200 drink spiking incidents have been reported to police across the UK over the past two months, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said.

Mr Lord said the Warehouse Project, which runs club nights in Manchester, has taken action to protect clubbers by rolling out urine tests to check if they have been spiked.

“Our medics actually bought kits last week ... it’s a little like a pregnancy kit, if I’m being honest,” he told The Independent.

“You can take a urine sample and tell exactly what is in that.”

Health authorities urge anyone who thinks they may have been spiked to get tested as soon as possible, as most drugs leave the body within 12 to 72 hours.

Last week, a health leader told The Independent A&E departments do not generally test people who fear they have had their drink spiked.

Mr Lord said the Warehouse Project implemented the urine testing kits at the weekend. “And we’re going to be using that moving forward,” he added.

He said the Manchester club night was the “first ones” to do this.

In Devon and Cornwall, urine testing kits are available in police stations, with the force saying this allows it to gain evidence to hold perpetrators accountable.

Nightclubs across the country are also introducing drink testing kits, along with full body searches and other measures to tackle spiking.

Mr Lord said he supported measures in place to tackle spiking. But he added: “We’ve got a real education job to do here.

“Ultimately, I just don’t think it’s right that a woman should feel protected by a bottle top on the right out.”

Echoing comments made by Andy Burham, the mayor of Manchester, during a protest last week, he said: “We need to be looking at ourselves, as men, as lads, as boys. We are the problem.

“I’d urge anyone, if you know anybody that does this sort of thing - it’s a disgrace, they need calling out.”