Student media criticised over May Day
The Oxford Student and Cherwell newspapers have been criticised by Oxford City Council over the events surrounding the May Day celebrations in which several students were badly injured after jumping from Magdalen Bridge.
In a joint announcement from both the city and county councils, Thames Valley Police and Oxfordshire Ambulance Trust, the group of organisational bodies involved with the annual event, said: “The group believed that the University student media outlets could have been more supportive in their pre-event coverage of the warnings.” The criticisms were reported by BBC News online.
On May 5th this newspaper published allegations that security guards employed on May morning failed to warn students of the risks of jumping from Magdalen Bridge because they were betting between themselves. The council has refused to investigate the claim. However, this newspaper has learnt that some of those present on May morning are so angry with the city council’s reluctance to take the concerns over security guards seriously that they are considering submitting official complaints.
A spokeswoman for the group denied that the conduct of R+R security guards was mentioned. Having initially promised to investigate the complaints internally, R+R Security have now refused to reveal what the outcome of their investigation was. The firm’s operations director has not denied the allegations but stated that: “any further discussion with the press would not be in the best interests of the company."
Police and other agencies involved in supervising the event also insisted that students simply failed to heed the warnings given to them. In a statement, the group said: “On the day itself, the signage, on the barriers, by the parapets, was clear and obvious.”
19th May 2005