'Girls night in': UK women boycott clubs amid surge in spiking of drinks

Women in the United Kingdom are boycotting clubs and pubs after a surge in needle attacks and cases of drink spiking.

Calling it a 'girls night in,' young women are choosing to stay at their homes instead of going out.

Thousands of women have signed a petition urging the government to make it compulsory for nightclubs to thoroughly search guests on entry.

An online campaign is also gaining momentum in Bristol, Brighton, and Nottingham which have a lot of universities. It aims at raising awareness about ''date rape'' drugs.

Victims claim they were stabbed with a needle in their leg, wrists, and back and awoke with no remembrance of the previous night.

UK's National Police Chiefs’ Council had said last week that almost 200 cases of drink spiking were reported to police forces across the UK over the past two months.

Deputy chief constable Jason Harwin had said ''We are working at pace with forces, law enforcement agencies such as the NCA [National Crime Agency] and other partners including the Home Office and universities to understand the scale of offending, establish any links between the allegations and ultimately bring any identified offenders to justice.''

The murder of Londoner Sarah Everard by a Metropolitan Police officer had prompted an outpouring of grief and rage, with protests and demands for action to end violence against women.

Wayne Couzens, 48, was jailed for life last month for abducting the 33-year-old marketing executive from a street in south London as she walked home on March 3, then raping and killing her. Her body was found in woodland around 80 km away.

The case also fuelled a debate on how the Metropolitan Police vets recruits and whether a misogynistic culture exists in the force.

Britain's police watchdog is looking into police failures to investigate an indecent exposure incident linked to Couzens in 2015, and two further such allegations in February this year.