A young woman has spoken of the horrifying moment she claims she was grabbed on the bottom by a man at a Blossom's gig in Manchester.
Darcey, who only wanted to be referred to her by her first name, had been going to get a drink at the bar at the 02 Apollo in Ardwick when she claims she was approached from behind.
She had been attending the concert to see the Stockport-band on Sunday night (December 11) along with her friend.
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Whilst standing in the queue for the bar, Darcey, who is in her 20s, claims a man came up behind and "aggressively" grabbed her bottom and said 'nice arse,' before proceeding to grab it again.
Shocked by what had happened, she said she "froze" before going back to the crowd to tell her friend.
After returning to the bar with her pal a short time later, she claims she noticed the man chatting to another girl - and decided to report his behaviour to security at the venue.
She has praised their quick response, saying security staff listened to her point of view, asked her how she'd like to respond, and swiftly removed the man from the venue.
Taking to Twitter, her friend commended staff, saying: "An amazing response to a situation that should not happen."
"It was an amazing gig. It is just a shame that people do that," Darcey said, speaking to the Manchester Evening News.
"I went to the bar by myself to get a drink for me and my friend. I was stood with my back to the queue. The man that has grabbed by bum has come from behind me and said 'nice arse..'
"I just froze. I have been to hundreds of gigs but I didn’t know what to do in this situation. I walked back to the crowd and told my friend what happened."
Darcey said when she initially told her friend what had happened she 'brushed it off.' The two of them then decided to go to the bar together to get a drink.
"When we walked over he was chatting to another woman," Darcey recalled. "I decided to report it to security and when I did they reacted so fast.
"I think it was really well handled. They asked for my point of view and asked for a female member of security to come over which I was impressed by because it’s usually just men.
"They were asking for a statement and when the guy walked up to the bar to get a drink I think they must have told bar staff because they refused to serve him.
"They told him he’d been caught on CCTV sexually assaulting a woman in public. Security then took him away and asked if I wanted to press charges and have him removed from the venue."
Darcey said she decided not to press charges but did request for the man to be removed from the venue - which he was. She praised the venue's response, saying it gave her the confidence to stay at the gig and not let it ruin her night.
"I was so grateful to the security guards," she said. "If it was handled differently I think I probably wouldn’t have been able to stay in the crowd.
"It was an aggressive grab. It was a full hand grab with intention behind it not just a pinch. He did it twice. I still had a hand mark there for a while afterwards.
"I must have gone as white as a ghost. You hear about these things happening all the time but when it happened in that moment I didn’t know what to do or how I was going to react.
"I am in my 20s and I would say he was probably in his mid 30s. He wasn’t with anyone else at the bar. I think if he’d been with friends I might have said something to him."
Darcey said she wanted to share her experience as she believes it's important for women to know that the venue reacted in such a positive way.
"I have been to gigs on my own and with friends. It’s good for the soul and it’s such a big part of my life and I feel like if I had not reported it and security dealt with it so well it would have really knocked my confidence," she said.
"Seeing how well they responded has given me the confidence to go back to gigs. They put my wellbeing and safety first. I would urge anyone this happens to report it straight away to security."
The 02 Apollo have been approached for comment.
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