A 20-year-old woman is lucky not to have been blinded after being hit just above the right eye by a bottle as she and a friend were dancing at a nightclub on Prince of Wales Road, in Norwich.

The attack, which resulted in Emily Martin, right, having to go to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to have the cut glued and stitched, has put the former Taverham High School pupil off going out in the city. Miss Martin, a personal shopper at Debenhams, who lives on the outskirts of the city, did not see who threw the bottle, but has branded it as a 'cowardly' act.

She said: 'Me and my friend were just dancing and enjoying ourselves and all of a sudden I just felt something hit me on the head - I was then covered in beer.

'I would say it was a full bottle because I was soaked, my friend was soaked and so was someone else. I then thought 'my head really hurts'.'

Miss Martin, who studied travel and tourism for three years at City College Norwich, said her friend then grabbed her as her 'eye was pouring with blood'.

She was taken to the toilets by staff who helped clean up her wound before being treated by volunteers from Norwich's SOS Bus, who told her she would need to go to hospital.

Miss Martin, who has given details of the attack to police, said she heard it might have been a couple of girls who then ran to another club. She has no idea why she was bottled.

She said: 'I don't understand why people would go out and do that. You go out with your friend to have a good time.

'We just like to have a laugh. We don't laugh at anyone else's expense.

'I could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but why would you even throw a bottle at someone no matter what they had done?

'I could understand if I was in the bar and they told me what was wrong; I might have had a little more respect for the person who did it, but because they've thrown a bottle of beer, I just think its cowardly.

'If it was an accident someone would have come and apologised. They need to own up, apologise. How would they like it if it happened to them?'

The attack, which happened some time between midnight and 12.30am on Sunday at Fluke nightclub, is being investigated by police.

It has left Miss Martin, who spent several hours waiting to be seen in accident and emergency after the attack, reluctant to go out and feeling lucky she was not more seriously hurt.

She said: 'I won't be going out for a while just because of the fact people have got away with it. It's disgusting.

'It could've hit me in the eye socket and you don't know if the glass would've shattered or anything like that. It could've been worse than it is now. I'm grateful for that, but I don't understand why I should have to be grateful - I didn't ask to be hit in the face in the first place.'

Miss Martin, who lives with her father Dean, said she would now like to see bars and clubs trial plastic glasses.

She said: 'I would definitely like to see plastic cups. If someone throws a plastic cup you're not going to get any damage with it.'

A spokesman for Norfolk Police has confirmed the incident at Fluke nightclub in the early hours of Sunday, September 25 has been reported to them and investigations are ongoing.

Anyone who has any information about the incident should call police on 0845 456 4567.

Do you think bars should introduce plastic glasses? Write to Evening News Letters, Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich NR1 1RE or email peter.walsh@archant.co.uk