NIGHTCLUB bosses have moved to reassure their customers after a reveller was sexually assaulted in Southend.

An 18-year-old woman was attacked by two men in an underground car park off Leather Lane. She believes her drink was spiked at the Varsity bar.

Police are now carrying out forensic tests to see if the woman, who is from Benfleet, had a drug slipped into her drink on Saturday night.

Sarah Calderbank, a spokeswoman for Varsity, said they carefully train staff to spot any suspicious behaviour and report it.

She said: “There are measures that we take. Staff are trained to say to people don’t leave your drinks unattended, and there’s always a management presence on the bar floor.”

Tom Gowans, manager of Bakers Bar, said: “We specifically tell glass collectors to collect any unattended drinks. They ask people around if it’s their drink, and if it’s not they remove it straight away.”

The club also hands out “spikees” to women, to help protect their bottle of beer or alcopops from being tampered with.

Mr Gowans added: “If we get an allegation of drink spiking we take a sample and keep it in a test tube and give it to the police. They can run tests to see if the drink has been spiked.”

Police have been given CCTV images by Varsity, and have also been approaching other bars in the area for footage.

Det Insp Morgan Cronin, who is leading the investigation, said: “We have taken urine samples from the young lady, and if her drink was spiked hopefully any tests would show what that substance was.”

Two men from Benfleet, one aged 20 and the other 19, were arrested on suspicion of serious sexual assault, and have now been bailed until September 22.

However, Det Insp Cronin said officers still need to speak to a couple who were drinking with the girl that night.

He said: “We are particularly interested in tracing an Australian man and a female with him who were drinking with the victim.”

Drink spiking is illegal, even if an attack or assault has not been carried out, and can carry a maximum of ten years in prison. There are a variety of drugs which can be used, including Rohypnol, ketamine, GHB and GBL.

Anyone with information can call police on 0300 3334444.