Barriers, bouncers and a police cordon will not stop some May Day revellers jumping from Oxford's Magdalen Bridge, fears one witness to last year's chaos.

But a student who has jumped in the past has urged people not to risk it.

The bridge will be shut to the public between 3am and 9am on Monday, after 40 people injured themselves last year by leaping from the parapets into the shallow River Cherwell.

Will Bourne-Taylor, who hires out punts from the Magdalen Bridge boathouse, by the bridge, does not believe the security measures will make any difference to the jumpers who will have just 20 inches of water to cushion their fall.

He said: "They will still jump in anyway. Last year they had all these barriers, but people just climbed over and jumped from an even greater height."

His bosses are so sure of a repeat performance that he has been told to clear the firm's punts away from the bridge and set up camp on the riverbank to guard them.

Mr Bourne-Taylor, 25, does not relish a repeat of last year's celebrations, when 12 jumpers were hospitalised with injuries including broken legs, ankles and ribs.

He said: "There were a few quite serious injuries, but most of it is just nasty lacerations and cuts and there was a river of blood down the slipway.

"It was pretty full on. It was streaming down, with footprints of blood all the way up."

He described how one girl's laughter turned to tears when she injured her leg. He said: "I heard it snap she had an s-bend in her leg."

After the events last year, the authorities including Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, police, paramedics, emergency planning teams and fire officers took the decision to close the bridge.