I suspect weather kept the crowds away.

I swear they’re missing an opportunity, they should just erect a slide down into the Cherwell and charge a quid for it. Market forces and all that. The students would appreciate it.

Independent

Students leapt from Magdalen Bridge in Oxford to celebrate May Morning yesterday, despite police attempts to stop them. Five people took the plunge, one in a suit and top hat, but despite the low water level there were no injuries.

In previous years the tradition of jumping into the river Cherwell resulted in broken legs and severe gashes as students, many of them still drunk after May balls, landed on shopping trolleys, rocks and old bicycles littering the riverbed.

This year police got tough and cordoned off the entire bridge. But a few students managed to sneak through after the road had reopened for traffic at 9am.

Ian Stevenson, landlord of the 13th-century Bear pub in Oxford’s High Street, near to the bridge, said crowds were smaller this year: “We have opened at 6am for the past three years and get the same people coming back for an ale or two year after year – we’re part of the tradition,” he said. “The weather was against us this year though, so it was a bit quieter than last year.”