Female students are gearing up to boycott clubs in Worcester in response to the recent "epidemic" of spiking.

The Girls Night In campaign will see women boycott nightclubs across the country on Wednesday, October 27 as more and more victims of spiking via drinks and injections come forward.

This comes after recent worrying developments in Nottingham, where police arrested a 20-year-old man as part of an investigation following social media reports of women being injected with needles over the past two weeks.

A 19-year-old student said on social media that she had woken up with a "sharp, agonising pain in her leg" and "zero recollection" of her evening at a Nottingham nightclub.

She later discovered what appeared to be a pinprick mark on her leg.

The Worcester News has also received unconfirmed reports that a city centre bar has alerted the police after women were reportedly 'spiked with a needle' on the premises.

Groups have now formed at around 50 universities to campaign for a national boycott of nightclubs next week in a bid to force action from both the government and night-time venues.

And female students in Worcester are also said to be joining the movement.

Clement Servini, Marketing and Communications Coordinator at Worcester Students' Union, said: "We are aware of the Girls Night In campaign, and a number of our students and student groups have expressed an interest in the proposed boycott.

"We support all of our students to make their own decisions around this issue and whether or not they want to participate in the campaign.

"We want all Worcester students to feel safe in the Students’ Union and at venues run by our commercial partners.

"We have already had proactive conversations within the SU and with our partners around drink spiking and student safety.

"We will continue to have these conversations to ensure the safety of our students on nights out.

"Student safety is one of our top priorities, and we provide extensive support and signposting to all of our members on a range of topics around personal safety and wellbeing. 

"We think it can only be a positive thing that this has become a national conversation and will make all venues think about the wellbeing of their patrons."

The Alcohol Education Trust has said that reported cases of spiking often surge during freshers' week and the first term of university, which alligns with current reports.

A petition launched last week calling on the Government to make it a legal requirement for nightclubs to thoroughly search guests on entry has already gained more than 162,000 signatures.

However, students from the Manchester branch of Girls Night In have said that this would lead to further discrimination against sections of the community, "particularly black peopl".

Home Secretary Priti Patel has requested an urgent update from police on investigations into a spate of reports of women who believe they were spiked.