9:00am Tuesday 8th May 2012
By Hannah Postles
A teenager who was stabbed in the leg with a hypodermic needle at a Bradford nightclub is calling for compulsory bag searches at clubs.
Chantelle Hindle, 18, is facing three months of blood tests before doctors can rule out infections including HIV and hepatitis after the incident at Flares on Morley Street at around 1.30am on Sunday.
Miss Hindle said: “It’s scary that I have to have these tests because they don’t know if it was a dirty needle or not. I am devastated.
“They should check people’s bags before they go into clubs to make sure nothing like this happens again.”
Miss Hindle was standing with her mother Karen Hindle, 45, near the dance floor at the nightspot when she felt a “sharp pain” in her leg as a group of men walked past them.
The hairdressing student, of Copgrove Road, Holme Wood, said: “I didn’t know what had happened. I touched my leg and when I brought my hand back up, it was covered in blood.
“I rushed to the toilets to clear it up and when the blood was gone I could see what looked like a needle mark. So many things were going through my mind I didn’t know what to think. It was such a shock.”
Miss Hindle said she was checked over by paramedics outside the club and taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary by police.
She was given tetanus and hepatitis injections in hospital and will now have further tests to check she has not been infected.
The teenager, who has reported the incident to police, wants door staff at bars and clubs in the city to check revellers’ bags for needles and weapons to stop anyone else suffering the same ordeal.
Her mother, Mrs Hindle, who claims she reported the incident to the manager of the nightclub, added: “It’s absolutely disgusting. This is the last thing you want your daughter to have to go through. It’s a lot to take in when you’re only 18 years old.
“She never goes out usually and we were just minding our own business. I don’t know why this has happened, I don’t know if it was accidental or deliberate, but it’s awful.
“Clubs used to do bag searches, but they don’t seem to do that anymore. I think they should bring them back. People need to be aware about this sort of thing happening.”
A spokesman for Flares said no complaint was made to any staff member at the time of the alleged incident.
She added: “We have now been in contact with the police to whom we now believe a report has been made and we are assisting them with their inquiries.”
Anyone with information should call police on 101.
A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police confirmed they were investigating the alleged assault.
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