Students claim that they were spiked with needles during Oxbridge’s annual skiing trip.
According to social media, at least six students including a woman were targetted last Thursday in Val Thorens (a French Alps resort)
Two days prior, another incident was reported.
Joe Hilton (co-president) of Varsity Trip’s ski holiday has acknowledged that the spikes could have been performed by Oxbridge students.
He made the comment after it emerged that the incidents on Thursday at the ‘Slipped Disc’ club night happened before 1am – which is when the general public was allowed in.
One student told Cambridge University newspaper Varsity: ‘I do not know why there is the presumption that Oxbridge students cannot spike people and it must be locals – this happened early on a student night.’
Student claims that they were poisoned or had some substance in their drink during Oxbridge’s annual skiing trip. According to social media, at least six students including a male were targeted in Val Thorens last Thursday, a French Alps resort.
But another student wrote on Facebook that a ‘group of middle-aged men with seemingly no relation to the Varsity Trip’ had been allowed into the club ‘with no pat-down search (which students were subjected to)’.
Another saw a ‘large crowd of what seemed like locals’ trying to get in through the back entrance to the club where there were no representatives from travel organiser Nuco present. The Varsity Trip – which was sold out with around 3,000 students booking places between December 3 and 11 – has a reputation for wild behaviour.
According to reports, both club nights that saw the spikings took place at Le Malaysia in the resort.
A student wrote on a social media group at 11.15pm on Thursday that their friend had ‘been spiked at Malaysia with a needle’, according to Varsity. Nuco posted warnings online, saying it has ‘increased door searches’.
However, witnesses claimed that the spike was made by a male student an hour later.
At 2am, Oxford law student Maeve Carroll wrote on Facebook: ‘There are now five girls we are aware of who have been spiked by injections/drinks tonight.
‘Nuco and security are aware but seem to be doing not much.’
Female students posted comments about feeling unsafe and ‘terrified’, with some reportedly ‘putting on long sleeve tops and coats to protect themselves’.
A student wrote on a social media group at 11.15pm on Thursday that their friend had ‘been spiked at Malaysia with a needle’, according to Varsity. Nuco posted warnings online, saying it has ‘increased door searches’. But, guests said that an undergraduate male was spiked within one hour (stock photo).
Two confirmed victims were taken from the club by Hilton and Nuco took care of them. Mr Hilton said one had recovered but was ‘very shaken up’. Hilton said that none of the incidents had been reported to police.
Although he did not reply to my request for comment, he previously stated that there would be better security and communication between clubs in the future.
Nuco Travel said its staff had taken over entry to the venue after the reports of spikings and ‘aggressive’ door staff who turned away 200 people despite having tickets.
It added it was ‘deeply disturbed’ by the alleged events and had ‘submitted a formal complaint to the Malaysia night club around the conduct of their door staff’.
TripAdvisor reviews for Le Malaysia include one user complaining of bouncers ‘turning a blind eye to women being assaulted’.