Council is urged to back Ask for Angela

ACAMPAIGN against sexual violence could be launched in Southport.

Cllr Sue McGuire, leader of the Lib Dem group in Sefton, has asked the council to back the Ask for Angela campaign, which encourages bar staff to help out when someone feels at risk during a date.

The issue was raised at Thursday’s full council meeting and its viability will now be investigated.

The scheme was launched in Lincolnshire to fight against the risk of sexual violence.

Under the scheme, any- one on a date who feels threatened or at risk should approach the bar staff and ask, ‘Is Angela in?’.

The staff would then know the person is in need of assistance and help to remove them from the situation and possibly arrange for a taxi to take them away.

Ask for Angela has also been adopted in Gloucester, in association with local bars and police forces, and has even received the backing of actor Ashton Kutcher who shared the scheme’s poster on Facebook.

Cllr McGuire said: “I think this is such a simple idea that is relatively inexpensive to introduce.

“More and more people are arranging to meet strangers via online applications with everything very much based on trust but personal safety cannot always be guaranteed.

“The “Ask for Angela” campaign provides a code word that bar staff understand and can react to so that people who feel unsafe can leave the premises.”

And she added: “I am pleased that the council has agreed to investigate via the Neighbourhoods and Partnerships team with the council’s partner agency RASA.

“The council has also agreed to speak to the other local authority areas in Merseyside to see whether they have implemented anything similar.”