A father is demanding action over nightclub safety after his 14-year-old daughter was caught up in chaotic scenes outside an Oxford club.

Asthma sufferer Gemma Turvey needed treatment from paramedics after hundreds of teenagers crowded to get into the Fifth Avenue nightclub.

The teenager was on stairs leading up to the club, on the first floor of the Westgate Centre, when she shouted for help and an ambulance was called. Gemma was one of a group of ten from Abingdon's John Mason School trying to get into the non-alcoholic half-term disco. She said one of her friends had her hand trapped in a door.

Gemma's dad Steve, of Elwes Close, Abingdon, said: "This could have been an absolute catastrophe. It's the same sort of situation that happened with the Liverpool football fans at Hillsborough.

"It got so packed on the stairs outside the club that Gemma was pushed against this barrier while she was halfway up the stairs and started to hyperventilate."

He has complained to the council - the licensing body for nightclubs - and officers are investigating. One of the staff on duty at the club said there were fully-trained staff halfway up the stairs and a doorman at the top telling the teenagers they wouldn't get in.

The club has a capacity of 400. An estimated 800 teenagers turned up.

A spokesman for Rank Entertainment, which owns the club, said: "A customer who was on her way to the club with a friend alerted a member of staff to the fact that her companion was suffering from the symptoms of asthma in the shopping centre some 300 yards from the club.

"A member of Fifth Avenue's staff had an asthma inhaler to hand and so was able to assist the girl immediately while an ambulance was called. "Each venue within the Rank Entertainment group always has a number of trained first-aiders on hand for the safety of our customers. It is this policy and our determination to provide a safe and fun night out for each of our customers that helped ensure that our asthmatic customer was given immediate medical attention before she even reached the club."

Trevor Dixon, the city's assistant principal environmental health officer, said: "We are speaking to the management there about what happened and what they did to try and avoid it."

Story date: Thursday 28 October

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