POLICE have issued a warning after a hoax e-mail claiming HIV-infected needles have been deliberately buried in cinema seats was found to be circulating in the city.
It warns people to beware of sitting on public seats amid claims that a disease-infected needle was discovered on a cinema seat in Fife. But police have denied that any such find was made and say e-mails making the same spurious claims have been circulating throughout the UK.
It says that Hanley police "interdepartmentally dispersed" the e-mail and warned the local councils in the Staffordshire area about the discovery.
It said: "For your information, a couple of weeks ago, in the Odeon cinema, Festival Park, a person sat on something sharp in one of the seats. When she stood up to see what it was, a needle was found poking through the seat with an attached note saying, 'you have been infected with HIV'."
It claims that the Centre for Disease Control in Birmingham reported similar events have taken place in several other cities recently. But when the Evening News checked this out, no such centre was found to exist.
The e-mail continues: "ALL of the needles tested HAVE been found positive for HIV. The CDC also reports that needles have been found in the coin return areas of pay phones and coke machines. Everyone is asked to use extreme caution when confronted with these types of situations. All public chairs should be thoroughly but safely inspected prior to any use. A thorough visual inspection is considered the bare minimum."It also asks that everyone notify their family members and friends of the potential dangers.
A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said they had received no reports of infected needles in cinemas in the city, while Fife Police said the e-mail was a hoax and advised those who receive the message to ignore it.
"There is an Odeon cinema in Dunfermline, but it is in Duloch Park, not Festival Park. Also the Centre for Disease Control doesn't exist either, so they didn't even get that right."
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