A mother-of-three was left 'horribly ill' and unable to move after her drink was allegedly spiked on a night out.
Hannah Cornwall, 51, had been out with friends in the Cornish town of Newquay on November 5 when she said her drink was drugged while it was left unattended on the table.
Ms Cornwall soon found she was unable to move and her friends called a taxi for her when she became 'horribly ill'.
The mother said she 'did not think she would ever be a target' and has now been left 'petrified' - fearing for her safety and that of her daughters.
The latest incident comes as police investigate the scale of the UK's so-called 'spiking epidemic' amid a rise in claims that women have been drugged at nightclubs, bars and late-night venues using needles to inject 'date-rape' drugs.
Hannah Cornwall, 51, was left 'horribly ill' and unable to move after her drink was allegedly spiked on a night out
Ms Cornwall said: 'I remember looking back at my drink on the table and thinking I was drinking so slowly, whilst my other friends had already finished theirs.
'After I came back and finished my drink we carried on having a normal evening but then my friend said one minute I was talking normally but the next minute my head was on the table and I couldn't lift my head off.
'My memory is quite random at this point but I remember my legs feeling heavy.
'I kept saying was that I was so embarrassed and I couldn't move.'
Ms Cornwall's friends said she later became 'horribly ill' and so they called a taxi to take her home.
The mother-of-three added: 'We all just thought I'd had one too many but the next day, I was talking to another friend and I said how I just couldn't understand what happened.
'We were just trying to make sense of it all and she said she knows that I can normally drink more than three drinks.
'That's when she turned to me and said she thinks I was drugged. When she said it, I knew that's what had happened.
'I just didn't think I would ever be the target of anything like that because I'm 51-years-old.'
Ms Cornwall said she later posted a message on Facebook about the incident and was 'absolutely gobsmacked' when a number of people sent her private messages telling her that they had experienced the same.
She added: 'I've always been the kind of mother that says they need to be careful and watch their drinks, so I have always been aware that it happens.
The mother-of-three said she 'did not think she would ever be a target' and has now been left 'petrified'
Ms Cornwall had been out with friends in the Cornish town of Newquay on November 5 when her drink was allegedly spiked. Pictured: GV of Newquay town centre
'But what I wasn't aware of what how commonplace it is and that the perpetrators are not discriminate about who they drug.
'When I put up a post on Facebook about it around four to five weeks ago when it happened, I was absolutely gobsmacked by how many people private messaged me to say that it's happened to them too and it's happened to men and women.'
Ms Cornwall revealed she did not want to tell the bar about the incident or report it to the police because she felt ashamed about what happened.
She said: 'I felt so dirty the next day and then I felt total self doubt, wondering if I had made it all up. It sounds very cliche but when you hear victims say that they felt dirty about what happened to them, I understand how they feel because you do feel that way.
'I know so many people who it's happened to and they haven't gone to the police either. So, I am mindful that I am trying to tackle this problem that the police don't have facts and figures for because people aren't going to them.'
She continued: 'I wouldn't want to put pressure on anyone to report it to the police but I would encourage them to anonymously report it to places like the Woman's Centre Cornwall.
'I know it happens to men and women, so any anonymous reporting is important because the more figures they have, the more likely they will be able to do something.'
The mother-of-three has said more needs to be done to prevent drink drugging in clubs and bars, and is now looking at ways she can help combat the issue.
She added: 'I think there needs to be more training and education for staff at clubs and bars and need to adopt a zero tolerance policy where staff encourage people to let them know if they see anyone drugging a drink.
'It's not enough to tell people to cover their drinks or get their drinks tested at the bar because there's no way someone who's been drugged is going to know.
'You can't taste it and you're probably not going to feel an injection because your senses are over loaded in nightclubs. There's just too much responsibility placed on victims.'
Last month Home Secretary Priti Patel
