A woman who says she was the victim of drink spiking has accused police of not caring about the crime unless an assault has also happened.

The woman, who did not wish to be named, said she didn't go to the police following the incident at Maidstone's The Source Bar, because she was not assaulted.

The 24-year-old said whilst she made it home safely on the night, she went to A&E only to be brushed off and told to report the incident to the police.

She also says this is not the first time this has happened to her whilst on a night on in the town, and doesn't think people know how common it is.

It comes as Kent Police data revealed no one in the county has been charged following reports of drink and needle spiking over the last five years.

The data also shows there were 117 reports of drink spiking last year.

The woman, from Gravesend, said she was with a male friend at the town centre club on April 1, when the incident happened.

She separated from her friend and began chatting to a group of men who brought her a shot and a whisky and coke.

When her friend joined her once again, he held onto her drink whilst she went to the toilet.

She said: "He text me whilst I was in the toilet and he just said to me, 'Is this drink okay?'.

"He said he thought something was up when I was in the toilet because there was this fella lingering outside for me and all his mates were gone but he was still there.

"He drunk a bit of the drink and he said he felt like something was not right, and then he looked at him, shook his head at him, and then put the drink on the floor."

The man disappeared and the pair carried on their night at Bierkeller in Bank Street.

'I don't remember getting in a taxi. I do remember being on the M20 and waking up after passing out to be sick...'

Although she stuck to drinking water at the venue, she says she felt like she was getting "progressively more and more drunk".

She said: "My legs just kind of kept bolting up on me and I kept falling over.

"I don't remember getting in a taxi. I do remember being on the M20 and waking up after passing out to be sick.

"I just remember laying in the bath saying I couldn't feel my legs, and every time my friend sat me up to get me out, I threw up again."

She says she didn't think she had been spiked until the following day when she experienced pins and needles in her arms, hands and legs.

She decided against calling the police to report it, but called 111 to ask about her symptoms.

The person who took her call was concerned she may have experienced internal bleeding and told her to go to accident and emergency.

After arriving at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford in the early hours of Sunday morning, the triage nurse said she was likely still hungover and the hospital staff wouldn't be carrying out any tests to see if she was spiked, advising her to report it to the police.

She said: "This was about 4am on the Sunday morning, and I'd got spiked around midnight on Friday night and I was still feeling like I was going to throw up and kept getting sharp pains in my tummy, and I still had the numbness.

"I did feel like I was poorly enough to be in A&E."

She says she carried on feeling ill a week after the incident and this was not the first time she has experienced something like this when visiting Maidstone.

The last time she went out in the town last summer, there was a similar incident where she lost control of her legs and was violently sick throughout the following day.

'For every incident of drink or needle spiking which is reported to Kent Police a thorough investigation is carried out...'

When asked why she didn't report what happened to the police, she said: "I think unless you have been raped or sexually assaulted, I don't think they care if you've been spiked.

"I think that's how it would be viewed - I don't know that, but that's how I assume it would be.

"If a girl went to them and said, 'I've just been spiked but nothing has happened', they would never get anything else done because I don't think people realise how common spiking is.

"Unless you get spiked and something bad happens, I don't think it's worth reporting because I don't see what will actually get done."

The issue of spiking, particularly involving injections, hit the headlines nationally last year in the run-up to Halloween.

Some university students organised boycotts in an attempt to put pressure on venues to do more to prevent such incidents.

Data from a Freedom of Information request showed there were 100 more drink spiking reports last year than in 2020 in Kent, although night spots were closed due to Covid restrictions for most of the year.

So far this year, there have been 45 reports in the county.

Furthermore, just over half of the investigations since 2017 have been closed because no suspect has been identified, and in 21% of cases, evidential difficulties prevented the case being taken further.

Of the 117 reports made last year, six reports remain under investigation.

There were no reports of needle spiking until last year when there were 29, and 18 of those cases have been closed. There have been 12 reports of this so far this year.

Det Ch Supt Emma Banks, Kent Police’s head of public protection, said: "For every incident of drink or needle spiking which is reported to Kent Police a thorough investigation is carried out in order to understand what has taken place, where an offence is suspected we will do everything we can to identify those responsible and provide support and assurance to victims.

"Kent Police takes all reported incidents seriously and officers from its dedicated Community Safety Units work closely with partners to ensure people can socialise safely, this includes working with night-time venues across the county to make them hostile places for those who may seek to exploit others, and to ensure members of staff recognise the signs of spiking and other criminal behaviour that might take place.

"The force encourages people to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to security staff in the first instance, to ensure immediate action can be taken and everyone can continue to socialise safely.

"The vast majority of people enjoy the nightlife of Kent without incident, and our work with partner agencies to offer people who find themselves in a vulnerable situation a safe place where they can get help will continue."

The Source Bar declined to comment when contacted.