Management at Canterbury’s Venue nightclub have launched an investigation after alleged delays in getting an ambulance when a student suffered a “severe” allergic reaction.
Liam Hewitt, who made the claims on Facebook, raised concerns when his friend, Jack, fell ill at the club’s SOAP St. Patrick’s Day event on Saturday, March 16.
He claimed his friend experienced “facial swelling and an increasing inability to breathe” after drinking part of a friend’s drink who had eaten nuts earlier that day.
Though Liam praised the door staff as “compassionate” and “understanding of the situation”, he claimed staff at Venue “failed to understand the severity of the incident”.
Although Liam admits him and his friend were “inebriated” at the time, he says that staff should have been quicker to react.
Liam said: “I feel it could have had much more serious consequences had Jack consumed higher amounts of nuts.”
Liam did however praise the help of security staff at the nightclub, who assisted the boys with skipping the queue at Essentials, the campus shop, and giving the boys money to pay for antihistamine tablets.
“The bouncer staff handled the situation impeccably”, Liam said. “They were faultless.”
Colum McGuire, vice president for welfare at Kent Union, said: “We take all complaints seriously and following an incident in the Venue on Saturday night, our Licensed Trade senior management are currently investigating the complaint.
“It is therefore inappropriate to comment until these investigations have concluded.”
