Student leaders branded city councillors irresponsible for trying to keep Magdalen Bridge open during Oxford's traditional May Morning celebrations.

Highways officials have overruled Oxford City Council and will seal off the bridge on May Day morning.

City councillors had previously voted to keep the bridge open - despite the advice of police, student representatives and safety experts worried about crowd safety.

The decision to close the bridge came after Thames Valley Police threatened to seek a judicial review of the city council's decision in the High Court.

Barriers will now be placed at either end of Magdalen Bridge from 4am to 8am on Saturday.

Matt Edwards, vice-president of the Oxford University Student Union, said: "The council tried to expose people to risk that they were not necessarily aware of. I think that is irresponsible." The county county overruled the city council decision because it is responsible for the road over the bridge.

City council leader John Tanner accused the police of influencing the county council's decision by threatening High Court action.

He said: "We are very disappointed."

Peter Brown, the county's bridge engineer, denied that he and his colleagues had acted under pressure from the police.

Thames Valley Police Assistant Chief Con Robert Davies said: "We would like to assure the public that a lot of hard work has taken place over the last few weeks to try to allow the bridge to remain open."

Story date: Thursday 29 April

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.