BBC secret filming shows pubs not enforcing safety scheme

Pubs, bars and clubs that person signed up for a strategy designed to support customers who are successful fearfulness for their information are not implementing it, a BBC undercover probe has found.

The Ask for Angela initiative, a not-for-profit task successful spot astatine thousands of venues nationwide, aims to supply a discreet lifeline for radical who judge they are successful danger.

Those with specified fears are advised to usage the codification connection "Angela", to bespeak to unit they are successful request of help.

But concealed filming by BBC researchers recovered that successful fractional of the London venues they visited, including large chains, unit failed to respond to the codification word. The BBC received akin reports from crossed the UK.

It comes arsenic much councils marque information successful the strategy cardinal to granting intoxicant licences.

Our probe recovered unit astatine ample chains including Greene King, JD Wetherspoon and Simmons were among those who did not recognise the codification word.

Greene King said it was acrophobic astir the BBC's findings and pledged to reappraisal however the Ask for Angela strategy was communicated to its teams. JD Wetherspoon said it had successfully dealt with galore examples of distressed women utilizing the strategy but would supply further grooming if necessary. There was nary effect from Simmons.

The Ask for Angela initiative, which is aimed chiefly astatine women but tin beryllium utilized by anyone feeling unsafe astatine a participating establishment, has dispersed from the UK to countries astir the world, including Canada and the Netherlands, and operates successful thousands of locations. The strategy is named aft Angela Crompton, who was murdered by her husband.

Staff person peculiar grooming to recognise the connection Angela arsenic a awesome idiosyncratic needs help.

Upon proceeding the codification word, employees are meant to discreetly intervene, helping the idiosyncratic get to information by reuniting them with friends, calling a taxi, oregon contacting the constabulary if necessary.

Venues often prominently advertise their information successful Ask for Angela, putting posters and stickers passim their premises, peculiarly successful women's toilets, and besides advertise online to accidental they are a harmless haven.

Some radical accidental they actively question retired these establishments erstwhile arranging dates oregon nights out, viewing the strategy arsenic a information nett aft undergoing traumatic experiences successful the past.

One woman, who the BBC is naming lone arsenic "Kay", explained however she had arranged to conscionable a antheral for the archetypal clip aft connecting connected a dating app, but the brushwood turned into a nightmare.

"It was good astatine first," she told the BBC. "But past the nighttime conscionable kept getting worse and worse."

Within minutes of sitting down together, her day began touching her inappropriately. "He started playing with my hand, and I conscionable froze," she recounted, visibly upset. "I pulled my manus back. I enactment it down my neck. And helium conscionable kept saying, 'give maine your hand, springiness maine your hand'."

As she tried to leave, his behaviour worsened. "We got up and past helium grabbed maine by my waist. And helium slid his manus each the mode down. I was frightened and besides conscionable a spot shocked astatine what's happening due to the fact that I'm like, 'leave maine alone'."

Kay did not cognize astir the Ask for Angela strategy but thinks that, implemented properly, it could person helped, and says she present seeks retired venues that run it.

Following tip-offs from women and from barroom unit acrophobic astir the scheme's implementation, BBC researchers posed arsenic a mates connected a day to trial venues that actively promoted their involvement.

While astir of the approaches were made by a pistillate researcher, successful a mates of instances a antheral researcher made a petition for help, arsenic the strategy applies to anyone feeling unsafe.

At 1 establishment, our undercover pistillate researcher approached the bar, arsenic if connected distress connected a date, and asked: "Is determination anyone called Angela working?"

"Who?" came the confused response.

"Angela."

"Er, no."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

At different participating venue, which the BBC is naming, the White Bear successful Hounslow successful westbound London, a antheral who identified himself arsenic the manager was unaware of the scheme.

He told our researcher: "Nobody called Angela here... 100%, I'm the manager – I cognize my staff." When pressed further, helium added: "Not successful the past 4 years that I've been here."

The White Bear did not reply our questions but told america that helium was not moving determination immoderate much and that immoderate "insights" from the BBC's enactment with him were "outdated and misrepresentative".

These were not isolated incidents - 13 of the 25 venues we visited failed to respond appropriately to the Angela codification word.

One of the venues that did show however the strategy should run was Hootananny successful Brixton, southbound London. When a pistillate researcher asked for Angela and said she felt uncomfortable, the effect was immediate.

"Is everything alright?" the bartender asked without hesitation, earlier signalling to the manager. Within seconds, our researcher was led to a harmless abstraction and was asked: "Is determination thing we tin assistance with, oregon thing you privation to speech to america about?"

Similarly, astatine the White Hart successful Drury Lane, cardinal London, unit activated their effect protocol erstwhile our researcher asked for Angela. The manager, Kristoff, led her extracurricular and adjacent arranged a harmless haven astatine a adjacent pub.

"We're going to support him inside," Kristoff told our researcher. "Go to this pub connected the right-hand side... Ask for Neville. He's a person of mine, he's the manager implicit there... Stay implicit determination for fractional an hr and if you privation to travel back, travel backmost - we're going to marque definite he's gone."

At slightest £900,000 of nationalist wealth has been spent promoting and implementing Ask for Angela crossed England and Wales, the BBC has found.

The biggest concern is successful London, with £324,000 from the Mayor's Women's Night Safety Charter Fund and £32,000 from the Metropolitan Police.

Outside the capital, Knowsley Council successful Merseyside invested £90,000, Colchester City Council received £77,800 from the Home Office's Safer Streets Fund, and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority allocated £71,000. Sussex Police was awarded £296,363 from the aforesaid Home Office fund, with a information dedicated to Ask for Angela.

The strategy is progressively becoming embedded successful authoritative licensing policies crossed England and Wales.

Westminster City Council, which has the astir licensed venues of immoderate section assembly successful the country, includes the cognition of Ask for Angela arsenic a information successful granting licences to merchantability alcohol, arsenic bash Camden Council and Manchester City Council.

Dozens of different councils including Tower Hamlets, Cannock Chase, North West Leicestershire, Kirklees, Torbay, Haringey, and Havant either necessitate oregon powerfully promote venues to instrumentality the strategy arsenic portion of their licensing conditions.

The BBC's probe suggests the findings from London mightiness beryllium indicative of wider problems crossed the country.

Women's information campaigners and barroom unit successful Oxford, parts of the West Midlands, Manchester, Coventry, Kent and Brighton each reported concerns to the BBC astir inconsistent implementation and unit training, portion women's information organisations successful Cornwall, Sheffield and Devon said the strategy had failed to beryllium adopted by galore venues there.

Women's information campaigners are calling for the Ask for Angela strategy to go mandatory, with due enforcement. Jamie Klingler from Reclaim These Streets warns: "Women instrumentality a batch of risks to spell retired - a batch of the clip for online dates oregon for gathering idiosyncratic you don't know. And a batch of radical cheque successful beforehand to see.

"And if Ask for Angela is astatine a barroom you're like, 'OK, they'll person my back.'

"To enactment retired it's a figment of imaginativeness is truly horrific. We're already telling our friends wherever we are; way us, person america way our phones.

"To find retired [the flaws successful the Ask for Angela scheme], it's much than disappointing - it's putting women astatine risk."

Sylvia Oates, manager of Ask for Angela, said what the BBC had discovered was concerning.

"It's disappointing to perceive that lone astir fractional of the venues were capable to respond appropriately... if somebody's asking for Angela, they intelligibly request help. And if they don't get the assistance that they expect, past the strategy is not working."

She said precocious unit turnover successful the hospitality manufacture could marque accordant grooming challenging, but added this was nary excuse.

"It's a existent interest that premises person got the poster up and past if idiosyncratic asks for Angela, it's not successful," Ms Oates said, adding that venues advertizing their engagement successful the strategy had a work to marque definite unit were trained to respond.

She is calling for stronger measures to guarantee compliance.

"I judge that wherever a venue advertises that they run Ask for Angela, past determination should beryllium immoderate benignant of good oregon repercussion if they haven't trained each their staff."

Ms Oates said determination needed to beryllium a "strong deterrent" for businesses that did not bid unit properly, adding that "it's conscionable not acceptable that radical would spell to a venue expecting to get assistance and not get the assistance that they need".

She told the BBC she would beryllium gathering MPs to sermon ways to fortify the scheme, perchance by making information a mandatory information for venues with intoxicant licences.