BARRIERS will again be in place to prevent people jumping off Magdalen Bridge during annual May Day celebrations in Oxford next Thursday.

It will be the third year that police and councils have closed the bridge after 100 revellers leapt into the River Cherwell in 2005, leaving 40 injured, 12 needing hospital treatment and costing the health authorities £50,000.

Magdalen Bridge will be closed between 4am and 8.30am on Thursday. Police said the bridge would be re-opened as soon as officers at the scene thought it was safe.

The move has provoked criticism from those living in East Oxford, who claimed they were excluded from taking part in the celebrations as they were effectively cut off from the High Street by the closure.