Members of Chelmsford Pubwatch have taken a proactive decision to equip their establishments with acid attack kits following the serious incident at Club Mangle London in April 2017 where at least 14 people were injured.
Chelmsford is considered to be a very safe city and has not yet experienced any acid attack within the night time economy; but members of the local Pubwatch group personally knew the offender responsible for the Club Mangle attack. He was sentenced to a total of to 20 years imprisonment. They were also aware of another incident where door staff were injured in Manchester.
Following a scoping exercise to obtain best practice advice, the council agreed to meet the cost of the kits. Together with their partners at Essex Police and Open Road – who supply the SOS bus – Pubwatch have been able to provide an acid attack kit at every venue where door staff operate. This is believed to be the first such initiative of any Pubwatch in the UK.
Under the NHS ‘Report, Remove, Rinse’ approach, the kit is primarily designed to deal with the needs of a casualty until medical staff can attend. The kit uses 5 litres of water and a shower attachment to extend treatment time from one bottle to 4 ½ minutes. It also contains scissors to remove clothing and protective gloves and goggles.
As a potential acid attack would be a crime scene, the box can be used to store personal items and forensically preserve evidence and additionally contains crime scene tape, cordon log etc. for use in the early vital minutes before the Police can attend.
It is hoped that this kit will never need to be used but the Pubwatch strive to ensure that Chelmsford is a safe place to go out socialise.
Nigel Dermott – the local police licencing officer, “this is an excellent example of how Pubwatch can collectively promote safety within the night-time economy and a demonstration that nobody has a monopoly on ideas. Our Pubwatch continues to go from strength to strength and it is a real pleasure working with them”.
Nick Halle – The Pubwatch Chair – said, “we are never complacent and need to follow national trends. Whilst concerning, Chelmsford is a really safe City to visit and we are always keen to develop best practice”.
