Angela is ready just in case things don't go to plan. A friend who happens to work nearby, a helping hand to find a taxi home, a safety net for when things go wrong.

Angela isn't a real person, though. She is a code word designed to keep you safe.

Ask for Angela is a campaign which offers support for pub and club goers who feel unsafe, threatened or scared when meeting someone for the first time in public for a date.

Designed as a casual comment, anyone can discretely ask a member of staff if Angela is working tonight, if she's around, or if they can just say hi.

'Angela' will then transform into a safe place for people to get away from unwanted situations.

Aberdeen is the first city in Scotland to adopt Ask for Angela. Starting on Saturday, 25 pubs and nightclubs have signed up to roll out the scheme in their premises.

Plastering posters in both male and female toilets and notifying customers on social media that they are committed to the project, it is hoped people will feel safer when arranging to meet new people, particularly those from dating apps such as Tinder or Plenty of Fish.

The scheme was piloted by Lincolnshire County Council last year, with many other local authorities signing up to the scheme across the country.

Similar codeword style campaigns such as 'Angel Shots' have been adopted in America, where a person who feels unsafe orders a shot in one of three different styles to denote whether they need help, a taxi or the police.

Unight Aberdeen, a partnership of late night venues, Police Scotland and council-led initiative Safer Aberdeen decided to roll out the Ask for Angela campaign after seeing the positive effects elsewhere in the UK.

Lorna McCarrol, Unight Aberdeen vice-chair, says: "In today's online society with so many online dates happening, I think it's something that's probably needed not just in Aberdeen but in other places.

"I'm sure probably there might be people in situations that we don't know about and might not ever know about because the campaign wasn't there previously.

"People who have went out, maybe met someone on Tinder and when they've arrived at a licensed premises they've been thinking there's something not right here, or they seem a bit strange or they're scared.

"And rather than run out the front door and have somebody chasing you, with the Ask Angela campaign they can basically just say to the bar team 'Is Angela here?' and we'll say 'yeah she's just through here in the back', and we can put them out another exit or into a taxi, contact a family member."

Bars such as Soul, Slains Castle and Siberia have signed up the scheme alongside restaurants The Boozy Cow, 99 Bar and Kitchen and Ma Camerons and nightclubs Nox, Espionage and Exodus.

Rape Crisis Grampian, which supports survivors of rape and sexual violence in the north-east of Scotland, say the scheme is a good idea and could help make people feel safer and more able to speak out if they feel uncomfortable.

A spokeswoman for the charity said: "We are extremely keen to promote prevention and are so happy that the Community Safety Partnership, Police Scotland and Unight Aberdeen have all come together to back this campaign. We hope it will be well received and help to support the night time safety of Aberdeen city further.

"We hope that the Ask for Angela posters will give both men and women the confidence to ask for help and support and know that someone is there to help them."

While Lorna says that there isn't a specific problem with people feeling unsafe in the city, she says that the campaign will add an extra level of reassurance for customers in bars and nightclubs.

And while there may be a chance a misunderstanding over a person actually asking for a person called Angela could arise, Lorna doesn't foresee the campaign being misused by people in the city.

She says: "I don't think it's one of those campaigns that would be abused like that in any shape or form, it's just really easy, really simple and just a safety net for people who do want to go online and date rather than go to people's houses."

Lorna hopes the scheme will be rolled out in other cities in Scotland, adding: "Aberdeen is a very safe place, there's limited amounts of trouble and I think it's just something else that makes it safer."