Anti-Spiking Move At Rock Festival In Worthing

At 17 Harry White, who played in a local rock band, had a drink unexpectedly spiked at a friend’s party.

He described the experience as ‘extremely disorientating’ but spiking was something he and his friends didn’t know much about so, after his recovery, they shrugged it off.

Speaking about the experience more recently, Harry said:

"I had only had one drink that night, so I knew I wasn’t drunk and something wasn’t right.

"I couldn’t stop my head from spinning and was extremely disorientated and confused.

"When it happened, I was really lucky to be surrounded by people who cared about me and made sure I was alright, we didn’t know what had happened and I didn’t speak about it much at the time, but I now know I was spiked, and the experience has stuck with me."

That same year, Harry established Hammerdown Festival, whose leaders claim it is now Sussex’s leading rock and metal music festival.

This weekend's event sees up-and-coming and established performers take to the stage — and hundreds of guests are reported to have already bought advance tickets to attend the festival at The Factory Live in Worthing.

Harry says the safety of attendees was always crucial to him, when establishing the festival as a teenager, then later building its reputation.

"We started Hammerdown in a village hall in 2015 and it’s incredible how much it’s grown but even back then, we stressed to people how much we wanted it to be a safe event."

This year, Hammerdown is offering anti-spiking drink covers to guests.

The covers, known as StopTopps, have been funded by the Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne.

Harry added:

"Of course our first port of call is to have excellent security and bag checks so we don’t have anything or any people in the venue that shouldn’t be, but we also must be realistic and I’m glad we can provide this sort of protection for our guests.

"Ultimately, we want everyone to have the best time, I wouldn’t want spiking to happen on my watch so we’ll do what we can to prevent it."

Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne said:

"We are lucky to have a wealth of arts, music and cultural events all year round in Sussex and I want people to enjoy what our fantastic county has to offer whilst also keeping safe.

"Spiking is no joke - it’s dangerous and it’s an offence.

"It can make someone extremely unwell and vulnerable and the effects of it can be dangerous.

"I’m delighted that Hammerdown Festival and Harry are putting the safety of their guests first and will have additional safety measures such as our StopTopps in place for those who want to use them."

Hammerdown Festival takes place at The Factory Live in Worthing this weekend, across Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 July.