Safeflo

Please look at Safeflo's website, it is very informative and has very good products
www.safeflo.co.uk

“The best way to support a victim of drink spiking is to stop them becoming a victim in the first place. This product is about personal protection. It locks your drink away from spikers and gives drinkers the freedom of a carefree night out.”

I spoke to Peter from the Safeflo company to discuss their product, their successes and difficulties. Peter was very helpful and in the 5 minutes I spoke him I found myself in awe of his tireless campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of drink spiking. His dedication means that he has given out 2 million caps free of charge.

The caps sell at £2.00 for 6, and although this isn't not out of reach for most people, the unaccessability of the product means that they are dangerously underused.

Peter believes that they should be free and should be available in student bars and pubs/clubs up and down the country. But to do so means that they have to be sponsored. Big banks and big phone companies have shown an interest in sponsoring, but some have a hidden agenda. Phone conmpanies want 'Text to Win' placed on the caps and nussl www.nussl.co.uk (the student union body) wouldn't allow this to go ahead as they cannot be seen to encourage students to get into debt.
As soon as this was relayed to me, I just thought: how dumb do people think we are? We see text and we just have to do it! Yeah right!

Peter went around the country and spoke to 50 welfare offices in universities and gave 10,000 bottle caps free of charge. All came back and said how fantastic the product was and wanted more. On average, each university said that they would get through 25,000 a month. There are 600 student bars in the country, thus 30 million a year are needed.

When asked about whether he has ever been approached by the Government, Peter told me of how he met Charles Clarke when he was Home Secretary in Liverpool. He agreed that the product should be free and far more widespread and even took some samples to investigate. However, nothing else has been heard from him.

“You put your seat belt on when you get in the car, you put a crash helmet on when you ride a motorbike and you ensure your money is kept close to you and out of sight. Basic safety precautions we take every day without giving them a second thought. Safeflo protection has to become a ‘good habit’ in the same way. It puts you back in the driving seat.”