A WINE bar has been fined £100,000 after a teenager needed her stomach removing after drinking a smoking liquid nitrogen cocktail handed to her for free.

Gaby Scanlon, now 20, had been with friends at the Oscar’s Wine Bar and Bistro in Lancaster when she was given the Nitro-Jagermeister shot in celebration of her 18th birthday.

But upon drinking the normally £3.95 drink she described feeling “agonising pain” and was forced to loosen her clothing as smoke billowed from her mouth and nose.

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Preston Crown Court heard that she was left close to death after experiencing “an explosion” in her stomach four seconds after it was poured for her.

Miss Scanlon from Heysham, was taken to the Lancaster Royal Infirmary for surgery to remove her stomach and her small bowel connected with her oesophagus.

Oscar’s Wine Bar and Bistro, which had only opened five months prior to the incident on October 4, 2012, pleaded guilty to one count of failing in the duty of an employer to ensure the safety of persons not in its employment, admitting it failed to ensure the cocktail was safe for consumption.

In passing sentence Judge Pamela Badley said “failings fell very far short of standards”.

The bar had sold a range of cocktails using liquid nitrogen to create a smoking effect after director Andrew Dunn saw similar drinks in London.

But a senior health and safety officer, Peter Lord, who visited the bar in May 2012 before the incident said he had concerns about the drinks and sent a letter with guidance on liquid nitrogen usage, receiving no response.