Legal alternative to mace or pepper spray?

Theres a self defence spray called Stoppa Red which is legal to possess and carry. Its essentially a non-irritant dye spray, its foams up in their face, temporarily distracting an attacker, hopefully giving you time to get away. And it marks them with a red dye so they can be identified later.

I have no idea how effecive it is though, and to be honest, i personally would not like to rely on the stuff to defend myself. Buy a maglite torch, instead. Also legal to carry, and they can be used as an effective truncheon.

Maglite is a good idea but they're a bit hefty to carry on a night out or something! Any other ideas?

I just carry chilli powder.

Seriously?

Guyzzzzz, whats with all the stuff?

Honestly, all i need on a night out are my friends Pain and Destruction

I was in London the other day and got off at the wrong stop, but went in to a shop to get directions and decided to walk, since the it would take less than 5 minutes, it was well lit, it was only 5pm and I could see lots of people walking that way. After about two minutes of walking this guy ran up behind me and overtook me, which spooked me a bit but wasn't too out of the ordinary, and then was walking in front of me texting. About a minute later another guy walked up from behind me but really quickly, so they were sort of hemming me in. Anyway, at this stage I was getting seriously uneasy (I could still see other people close by though) so it wasn't much of a surprise when he grabbed my bag and tried to pull it off me. Luckily the bag strap was under my coat and when he realised he couldn't get it off he just turned and legged it. Just wondering if anyone knew of anything legal that I could get because the whole incident was a bit scary and since I live in Reading some precautions might be good! I'm not used to this kind of thing having lived in the country all my life (although I'm sure there are people on here who have had far worse...)
If that was too long: I nearly got mugged the other day and would like an alternative to pepper spray

Just carry a regular can of air freshener or deodorant, perfectly legal and it stings like hell if it gets in your eyes.

Seriously.

Pain and Destruction aren't going to do me much good - speaking purely on averages, I'm taller than the majority of people ... but then, the attacking sort don't generally pick on someone their own size, so I like to have defensive measures in place.

To be perfectly honest, I dont like the idea of anyone carrying any form of weapon out. Cause weapons lead to escalation in the majority of cases, you pull out your pepper spray, he pulls out his 9 inch commando dagger (got one <3) and shanks the **** out of you. Its far better in my opinion to just let the bag go and let them bail. Most opportunistic street criminals will want to get your bag and go. They're not all going to rape and murder you.

However, if this is the case, disregard everything I just said :P

Are you sure it would be legal though, as it would be damaging to the persons eyes?

If it was purely a robbery, I would - I don't have anything worth defending. However, like you say, in cases of serious assault, rape or murder, you can't just let them do it, so defensive measures are a good thing to have.

Well, what are the muggers going to do, sue you?

Well, what are the muggers going to do, call the police?