Costume-clad Ziggy’s enthusiasts were forced to migrate to other venues last night when a fire evacuation put an abrupt end to their Wednesday night festivities.
Mansion have told Vision they are furious and intend to identify the culprit and pursue legal prosecution with assistance from both the police and YUSU.
The alarm was set off at 12.30am by a clubber breaking one of the fire alarm break-glass points. The estimated 500 student revellers were evacuated within 30 minutes, however members of Ziggys staff claim otherwise.
“The fire alarm was smashed by someone simply being an idiot,” Jason Ledwidge, a bouncer at Mansion, told Vision, “It took as long as it did to get people out as we were aware that there was no fire hazard. Once we started the evacuation (properly) it only took 2 minutes maximum.”
The club only managed to reopen its doors by 2.00am, notifying the students by posting the following on the Mansion Nightclub York Facebook page: “Fire Alarm sorted – open again!!! Someone tried to ruin everyone’s night by setting off a break-glass point… GUTTED!!!!”
However, by the time the club reopened the party-goers had already left to Willow or Vudu. The club manager, Ed Gallagher, was furious and estimated the financial damage at £3,000, a fifth of their weekly profit, as Ziggy’s Wednesday is Mansion’s most profitable night.
“I am absolutely furious that because someone thought it would be funny to set off the alarm a hefty part of our weekly profit has been lost and our staff’s jobs will have to pay the price.”
The club manager claimed that because of the incident he would have to decrease security next Wednesday. This means that the unnecessary fire evacuation will limit security on, arguably, York’s rowdiest student night.
He went on to tell Vision that Mansion has clear CCTV footage of the culprit and the police are looking into the matter and placing precedence on finding and prosecuting the culprit. He also claimed that the club had been in contact with YUSU and they too were looking into the matter.
This is the second time such an incident has happened, the first time being in February last year when a member of a university sports team set off a smoke bomb, causing Ziggy’s to close for the night at 12.30am. Gallagher claimed they lost £4,500 in profit that night alone.
The false fire alarm dampened many clubbers’ nights. Adrian Lee, a second-year Sociology student, said the incident ruined his night: “I was having a pleasant conversation with a girl in sexy pyjamas but thanks to the alarm she ran off.”
The story will be updated with more details as they are received.
30 minutes evacuation!? if it were a real fire, people would definitely have died
The length of evacuation time is surely the story? And also, that is a godawful opening sentence.
Can’t take some people anywhere eh…such a shame some “clever” idiot ruined everyone’s night.
Surely it is time to shut this place down for good. enough is enough.
Adrian’s the real victim here