MUM of two Lucy Allinson paid a high price for a late-night drink in Ilkley.

For when she left a night club, she was subJected to such a savage beating by a gang of around ten people that she thought she was going to die.

The attack happened outside the Il Trovatore (known locally as the Trav) night club on Leeds Road at around 2.20am last Saturday morning.

The 29-year-old went for a drink with a friend after working late, but once inside the club she said she noticed a group of girls pushing and shoving people on the dance floor, trying to cause trouble. She said she pointed out the behaviour to club doormen whom she knew. When she got outside at closing time she said that the group of trouble causers was also there.

Miss Allison said: "There were at least ten girls and blokes as well - about 30 of them." She said that the group looked like teenagers and she did not recognise any of them as being from Ilkley. Miss Allison was with a friend, Lucy Whittingham.

"This girl said Lucy was looking at her funnily," said Miss Allison. "They smashed her to the floor and about ten surrounded me. They knocked me down on the floor about five times, kicking and punching.

"Eventually, I got up off the floor, a young lad took me to a taxi but they surrounded the taxi jumping and kicking it."

But instead of leaving the scene, Miss Allison said that the taxi driver told her to get out of his cab.

"I was begging him not to make me go out but he made me get out and I got out and got another beating. They were relentless - I was in fear of my life."

Miss Allison, a sales manager for a cosmetic company, said that her ordeal lasted about 20 minutes before another young man came to her rescue and ran up the street with her.

She said: "Once I was far enough away he went back to help somebody else - I just hid out. I really thought they were going to kill me. I rang a friend and they came and got me. My friend Lucy took a beating as well but she managed to get into a car and get away."

Later that morning Miss Allison reported the incident to the police and went to Airedale General Hospital where she was found to be suffering from a fractured nose, cut head, swollen lip, black eyes, chunks of hair missing, and bruising all over her body.

The former Ilkley Grammar School pupil has been left traumatised by the incident. She is so scared of the gang returning that she was reluctant to have her address publicised except to say that she lives in the Ilkley area.

She said: "I have lived here all my life and all of a sudden I don't feel safe in my own home town."

She said she hoped that by speaking and having her battered face shown in public, she could prompt a crackdown on anti-social behaviour so that others would not have to suffer in the way she has done. She has also called for the introduction of closed circuit television cameras on Ilkley streets.

Miss Allison, who has a daughter aged four and a son aged seven, said: "It was the thought of my children being brought up into this kind of madness, and my children having to see me like this."

She said that the night club had to take some responsibility for these girls drinking, not being able to handle it and then causing trouble. "These girls would not be coming into Ilkley otherwise," said Miss Allison.

She said Miss Whittingham and a man, Steve Hitchen, were also injured by the gang.

Il Trovatore owner, Alfredo Ciesla said he had not heard of any incident outside the premises on Saturday morning.

Mr Ciesla, who is secretary of the local group Pubwatch, which seeks to prevent anti-social behaviour in the town, said: "It is news to me. The police haven't been to see me.

"It is the first I have heard about it. I would be grateful if she would come and speak to me. I don't know anything about it.

"If she has been assaulted it is the last thing I would want. If she knows who it is I will make sure they can't go anywhere in Ilkley."

A spokesman for West Yorkshire police said that they were called to a report of 30 to 40 people fighting outside the club on Saturday morning.

The spokesman said: "One person was taken to Airedale General Hospital - there were no arrests."

As for the assault on Miss Allison and her friends, the spokesman said: "No-one has been arrested. We have not identified any definite

suspects and we can't be

specific about ages at this moment in time. An officer is investigating but we

don't have any definite

suspects."

C D Khalid, a spokesman for the Bradford Hackney Carriage Association, said: "The safety of our passengers is very important."

He added that he would carry out an investigation to try to find out what happened and try to identify the driver involved, if it was a member of the association.

Two other people, Lucy Whittington and Steve Hitchen were also injured by the gang outside the club, said Miss Allison.