HEREFORD'S street pastors have spoken out amid concerns of drink spiking on nights out.

Robert Thomas, chair of charity Vennture, has called for a parliamentary inquiry after his team's findings caused concern.

Street pastors from Vennture work to keep safe vulnerable people who are spotted by CCTV or by door staff.

In recent months well-known ways of spiking are being left behind as predators look for new ways, such as injections, to drug their victims.

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Mr Thomas told of an incident the street pastors dealt with a couple of weeks ago.

The street pastors on duty found someone had been spiked after they were offered a drag of a vape in a venue in Hereford. The vape turned out to be laced with a kind of drug used to treat severe insomnia and help with anesthesia.

Other cases involve people being offered continuous drinks and over-drinking, leaving people in unsafe situations, said Mr Thomas.

He went on to tell of one young woman who had been found on the concrete floor of the toilets in a Hereford venue. She had passed out and was freezing cold after over drinking too much alcohol.

When the street pastors care for a person who suggests they have been spiked they test for the top eight spiking drugs likely to be in their system, as well as checking their blood alcohol level.

If they test positive, they will be taken to hospital.

One of their vehicles takes them to their Lean On Me Safe Space, where medically trained sixth formers supervise recovery.

This year Mr Thomas predicts they will help 400 people get home safe, people who may otherwise end up in a bad situation.

On Saturday (January 22) a young woman was found passed out with her friend – who was not drunk – looking after her.

When breath-tested, the woman who had passed out blew a lower level of alcohol than her friend – and she did not have drugs in her system, according to the drug test. She had drunk a series of shots at once, and they had sent her body into shock.

The street pastors helped her but it was a dangerous situation, said Mr Thomas.

"No one plans to need a street pastor, no one plans to end their night in our safe space, no one plans a bad night."

The street pastors have been working with door staff from different venues around Hereford that are a part of the HAND Pubwatch scheme – which is in place to reduce crime and disorder across the county and works closely with the police to do so.

"Door staff have been exceptional," said Mr Thomas.

As a team they work closely to care for people in and leaving their pubs and clubs.

This allows the pastors to be with someone in four minutes – after the India Chipchase case, where a woman was picked up outside a club by her attacker Edward Tenniswood, who raped and murdered her in Northampton in 2016.

As of the last Pubwatch meeting at the start of this month, there have been no proven cases of drink-spiking in Hereford or Herefordshire.

But a spokesperson from HAND Pubwatch said the team of licensees are aware of the fear of drink-spiking back in September and October of last year.

Police gave "bottle tops" and drinks covers to pubs and clubs in Hereford, and some art was created for the pubs after the Pubwatch asked for support. Many have printed posters for display in their venues, said the spokesperson.

Venues gave further training to teams on what to be aware of around drink-spiking, what to watch out for and any actions to be taken should any member of staff have concerns, or any customers raise concerns.

Vennture is also asking for people to stay safe and be aware by watching how much they drink.

Mr Thomas said this is the case because, unfortunately, predators will always be out there.

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