Police are investigating an alleged “pepper spray attack” at a nightclub which was hosting a One Direction singalong party.
The suspected noxious substance attack at Snobs nightclub in Birmingham’s city centre left some revellers “coughing and vomiting”, a witness has claimed.
The popular city centre venue, in Smallbrook Queensway, was hosting a One Direction singalong party on its middle floor at the time of the incident.
But the shocking incident happened on the floor above, at around 1.30am on Saturday.
The third floor was swiftly evacuated by Snobs staff - however, one clubgoer said his girlfriend, 32, was struggling to breathe and needed to go to hospital.
The 35-year-old, who asked not to be named, told BirminghamLive : "At about 01:30 the third floor of Snobs nightclub was evacuated due to some sort of gas attack.
“People were coughing and vomiting afterwards, and at least one person was sent to hospital with breathing difficulties."
He also wrote to Snobs about the incident as he was surprised the whole club was not evacuated following the incident - but felt reassured by their response.
He added: "My partner and I live in the city centre, so we were able to walk home after the incident, hoping that we’d both feel better after some fresh air.
"Unfortunately this was not the case, and I had to call an ambulance for my partner, who was struggling to breathe.
“She was taken to hospital, and released a few hours later having been given some steroid drugs and magnesium via IV. Both of us are now fully recovered.
"I was glad to see the written response from Snobs, as we were both concerned about having inhaled an unknown substance which clearly caused us, and many others, severe distress.
"Although the staff did a great job of clearing the affected floor quickly, the lack of response in the rest of the club seemed poor at the time, so it’s good to know the staff acted on the advice of police, and were able to identify the person responsible.
"I can only hope the CCTV footage they have obtained leads to the arrest of this selfish and thoughtless individual."
In a response online, Snobs said it was an "isolated incident" and they are "proud of how the situation was handled" by their staff.
"The 'chemical weapon' was actually pepper spray and a very short term and localised issue. On advice from the police, the effects are very localised and short term once ventilation takes place," Snobs Management said.
"We followed the advice given by the authorities. I can assure you’ll have no long lasting health issues.
"Although I can understand you may have received some irritation at the time.
"We had first aiders on-site at the time who were offering private washing facilities for anybody that needed help.
"We spoke to the police and informed them of the incident, we also tracked the offender on CCTV.
"Obviously we’d like to apologise for the incident, and we have re-looked at our procedures to see if we can do anything better in the future.
"We try our best to make the nightclub the safest environment possible, unfortunately we can’t control every single person's actions all of the time."
A West Midlands Police spokesperson said: “We’re investigating an incident at Snobs nightclub in the early hours of Saturday morning during which a noxious substance was discharged.
"Officers patrolling in the city centre were alerted to the incident by the venue. No-one was seriously hurt.
"CCTV has been reviewed and enquiries are underway to identify the people responsible.
"If anyone has information that could help our enquiries, please message us on Live Chat via our website and quote crime ref 20/402713/22."
