Several cases of drinks spiking were reported in the Malaysia nightclub in Val Thorens on Thursday night. The spiking incidents took place during the Slipped Disc final night party on the Varsity Trip. Cases were initially reported by users on the VarsiTickets Facebook page, with one user commenting that they were aware of five female students who had been spiked.
Several commenters indicated that some of the spikings may have been carried out by injection with a needle, a method which is particularly endemic to UK nightclubs, while less common in France.
One individual commented that he witnessed a group of ‘VIPs’ being let into the Malaysia nightclub without a pat-down search, which students were subjected to. Questions have been raised about the effectiveness and awareness of both the resort security and NUCO, the holiday providers who facilitate travel, accommodation and events on the Varsity Trip, including the club nights. On the Slipped Disc night in addition to previous club nights, members of the public have entered nightclubs where Varsity events took place after the official events closed.
However, the co-President of the Varsity Trip Committee, Joe Hilton, told The Oxford Blue that two of the spiking incidents “cannot have been carried out by non-students. This is based off [sic] the time at which the events happened and who was present in the club at the time.”
On the night of the spikings, the Varsity Trip Instagram issued a post responding to the events, stating, “We have been made aware of a number of incidents of spiking… at Malaysia. We completely respect anyone’s decision to not enter the club tonight. We have increased door searches and have medical staff on hand. We are appalled by this behaviour and are investigating the incidents.”
When asked how the Varsity Trip would prevent similar incidents in future years, Hilton told The Oxford Blue that, “Going forward, Varsity Trip will continue to use the measures we currently have in place (door searches, paramedics and welfare staff on hand, NUCO Reps in and around the clubs) to help prevent and deal with these horrible incidences. We will also be having conversations with club owners and with NUCO to discuss how we can make clubs safer environments.”
NUCO, the travel company which facilitates the Varsity Trip, did not respond to a request for comment.