Rock City issues apology after refusing entry to diabetic Nottingham Trent student

Rock City has issued an apology after they refused to let a diabetic Nottingham Trent student into the club with his “life-saving” medication.

Joshua Hardy was out with a group of friends celebrating a birthday when he attempted to gain entry to the popular student nightclub whilst carrying a bag of medication used to treat his type one diabetes. But after his bag was searched he was forced to go home, NottinghamshireLive reports.

Rock City has apologised to Joshua, saying it is taking “immediate steps” to make sure this doesn’t happen again and urging customers to contact Rock City in advance so safe storage of medications can be organised.

The 18-year-old bio-mechanics student receives insulin through a pump and must carry with him pump sensors, a blood glucose meter, testing strips, insulin vials, glucose treatment, insulin pens and sealed needles.

Hardy claims that he had previously attended the club in Freshers’ Week and was allowed to leave his medication bag in the cloakroom whilst he enjoyed his night out. However, the on site paramedic refused to allow Joshua to do this again, leaving him “devastated” and without any option but to return home.

Speaking to NottinghamshireLive, Joshua said: “It was a bit devastating, my friends were all waiting for me and it was upsetting for me not to be able to get in. I explained that I have had major problems with my diabetes but they wouldn’t let me put it in the coatroom again.

“Two weeks ago I was allowed in. But the employee I spoke to, who said he was diabetic, told me it ‘should not really be there’ because I need my medication. But it’s only there in case I need it. I just wanted to enjoy a night out but I ended up feeling very different from my friends.”

A spokesperson for Rock City said: “First of all, we want to apologise to Joshua for his experience on Saturday.

“This could and should have been handled better and we have taken immediate steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again. We are talking to Joshua and his mum to make sure he feels welcome to visit us again in the future.

“We do have a policy whereby customers needing to bring life-saving medication into the venue can arrange for them to be labelled and stored on site in a locked drug safe only accessible by management.

“If anyone has any concerns about bringing medications into the venue we would urge them to contact us in advance so we can organise safe storage as we don’t want to store potentially life-saving drugs in the cloakroom where immediate access is not guaranteed.”

The Tab Nottingham has contacted Rock City for further comment. 

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