Hellish encounters for singles sick of Valentines

For those already sick of the sight of loved-up couples in the run-up to St Valentine's Day, an antidote is on hand.

WhenDatesGoBad.co.uk, launched by Sam Jordison, the author of Crap Towns, is a new website charting embarrassing, humiliating and truly horrific dates. From the girl who ruptured her stomach when over-indulging at an all-you-can-eat restaurant, to the date who kept his security rag from childhood, "Moopert", in his pocket, the stories of dating hell are a riposte to the Valentine cliché.

Jordison expects the best entries from the website to be compiled into a book called Bad Dates. "I am certainly hoping that it will achieve the same success as Crap Towns, which along with Crap Towns II has sold 160,000 copies.

"I keep laughing at all the entries that come in. The saddest has to be the couple who were intending to go on a date to a Manchester club, but a mugger managed to get into their taxi on the way, with an imitation gun. They spent their evening being driven around the town and never made it to the club," he said.

His inspiration for the topic is "soppy", he said. "I have been going out with my girlfriend for a while, and it is a relief that I don't have to go on dates any more. I was hopeless at it, and was reflecting on the terrible mistakes I made. Then I realised everyone is in the same position."