The Secret Phrase To Help People Who Feel In Danger At Bars
22 March 2017, 11:19 | Updated: 22 March 2017, 11:21
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The Met Police are rolling out a new scheme that helps people who feel in danger to get help from bar and club staff - all they have to do is "ask for Angela".
Having been piloted in south London, the scheme will now be rolled out in participating venues across the capital. It means that anyone who feels uncomfortable in a pub or club will be able to approach staff and use the code to raise awareness.
It's being particularly targeted at people who are "on a date that's not working out", with posters asking "is your Tinder or POF date not who they said they were on their profile?"
Staff will then take the person aside or to a safe place so they can relay their concerns. Workers in the venue will then be able to call a taxi for the person, contact their friends or family or ask the other person to leave.
More than 50% of venues in Merton, where the trial was run, have been participating in the scheme since Christmas and it continues to grow.
Officers from Met Licensing teams will be delivering the posters advertising the service to venues across the capital.
They will be placed in the toilets of those establishments. Police in Merton say it's also prompted staff to be more alert to potentially dangerous situations, including one where two men were plying a woman with alcohol.
