Woman escapes from a ‘violent’ date after signalling to DJ

A young woman managed to alert the attention of a DJ and bar staff while out on a precarious date in Liverpool’s city centre.

A member of staff from the bar, who shared the story on a Liverpool hospitality industry Facebook page, explained that the woman used a cryptic signal to seek help after realising she could be in a potentially dangerous situation with her date.

According to the staff member, she approached the DJ and asked if Angela was working – this phrase was created by the Ask for Angela initiative, launched by Lincolnshire County Council before being implemented across the country.

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It encourages people to discreetly ask for help by going to the bar and ‘Asking for Angela’ – a phrase aimed at alerting bar staff to the cry for help so they can help defuse the situation.

Trained staff will then take them to a safe space where they can explain their issue and get a taxi, friend or family member to pick them up. The worker can then tell the other person to leave or phone the police if they believe a criminal offence has occurred.

Writing in the Facebook group, the man explained that he knew instantly what the visibly nervous woman meant and invited her to stand in the DJ booth with him.

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There, he asked the nearest security guard the same question and the woman was escorted through the back of the venue and into a taxi.

According to the man, after her date returned from the bathroom he was asked to leave by management and without delay turned ‘violent,’ forcing security to step in.

The man finished his post by urging other venues across the city to educate and train their staff regarding the Asking for Angela initiative, though multiple bars across Liverpool have already shown their support for the campaign.

For more information on the Ask for Angela campaign, click here.