IT had the makings of a hit comedy film that would have left The Full Monty looking like a weepy. There was a picturesque Highland setting, a troupe of male strippers, hundreds of ''screaming women'' and church elders acting as bouncers, writes Chris Starrs.
Yet the potential for humour fell flat when the charity that organised the fund-raising strip show was criticised over the security it hired after some of the 850 spectators were injured.
Ian McAra's firm Goldstar Security, of Stockton-on-Tees, was approached to carry out the work when male strippers G-Force performed at Inverness Ice Centre.
Last night, he said his company had not been hired and he believed cut-price stewards, including some church elders, were paid #20 for seven hours work at the #10-a-head event in aid of Cerebral Palsy Action and Moray Firth Radio's charity trust.
Women claiming they were man-handled by bouncers and left bruised complained to the organisers, Cerebral Palsy Action.
One of them, Sales executive Geraldine Fraser, 22, from Inverness, was offered a teddy bear as an apology. But she refused saying she wanted her money back.
She said: ''There weren't enough security guards, only three at the front for about 800 people and they just piled in and started pushing and pulling at folk to get them out of the way. It was terrifying, people were being really badly handled.
''They were really rough, my arm is all bruised and in my line of work it doesn't look good. If I have to go out and see a client what are they going to think?''
However, it was not only the spectators who got more than they bargained for. One of the ''terrified'' bouncers, a 42-year-old Inverness man who asked not to be named, said: ''I got paid #20 cash in hand for working from seven at night until two in the morning. It was the scariest job I've ever done and I'd certainly never do it again.
''There were 13 to 15 men, which wasn't enough, and there was no barrier. We were just getting squashed on to the stage.''
Cerebral Palsy Action chairman Steve Allan said: ''We've had two people who've expressed concern and we're looking into the situation.''
He said that the member of staff who organised the event had now left and could not be contacted for more information.
A spokesman for Caledonian Night Clubs, which runs Inverness Ice Centre, said: ''The security and the medical side were hired by those who hired the rink.
''I think it was Tom, Dick and Harry. It was not a professional firm, I believe there was even one or two church elders.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article