THE plight of a young mother of two who was attacked with a glass at a Blackpool nightclub at the weekend has sparked calls for increased safety measures across the town.
All licensees are now being urged to introduce less dangerous shatterproof glasses.
Katherine Hall, aged 21, had a glass smashed in her face at the Palace nightclub on Bank Hey Street at around 2am on Saturday.
Mrs Hall, who was on a night out with her husband, needed at least 18 stitches when the glass cut her forehead, nose and cheeks.
Violent crimes officer DC Ian Mather said that Mrs Hall was still very traumatised this week and had been lucky that the glass had missed her eyes.
"There is not a big problem with glassings in Blackpool, but we do want to prevent incidents like this," he said.
"We are working with the licensees' forum in the town centre to encourage all the pubs and clubs to get these shatterproof glasses."
Palace manager Neil Royden confirmed that the club uses shatterproof glasses but would not comment further.
But Town Centre Licensees Co-ordinator, Joe Curran, said that if the club used real glasses Mrs Hall's injuries would have been much worse.
"Had that been a normal glass her face would have been cut to ribbons. The cuts would have been so deep she would have sustained extensive injuries. So the safety glass has done its job," he added.
"Her injuries are disgraceful and these incidents should not be tolerated, but had the Palace not had safety glasses then her injuries would have been much more severe. On impact the safety glasses don't shatter into jagged pieces, they are similar to a car windshield. It's the jagged shards of normal glass that usually cause the worst injuries, with extensive lacerations," he said.
Mr Curran said that nearly all pubs and clubs in the town now use the shatterproof glasses and that licensees as a group were committed to taking all possible measures to help to cut violence in the town centre.
DC Mather said that the police wanted to develop further measures to reduce violent crime in and around the pubs and clubs.
"We are trying to educate the door staff to search people as they are leaving, to take bottles and glasses from those who are trying to take them on to the street. We are also promoting the on-street drinking ban," he said. He added that police were also trying to attract sponsors for bottle bins which could be placed, in conjunction with the council's cleansing department, outside the main venues and in other strategic places in the town centre, but said that response from sponsors had been poor.
Mr Curran said that the Town Centre Licensees' Forum aimed to ensure that pubs and clubs in the town were safe and enjoyable places.
"The licensees in the town are the leaders in safety. The door staff have been taking bottles and glasses from people leaving premises for a long time. Incidents like this are taken very seriously and looked upon very sharply by us and the police. Everybody is endeavouring to do as much as they can to decrease violent episodes."
Police were still trying to trace Mrs Hall's attacker this week and were speaking to people who witnessed the incident.
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