Shops suffered thousands of pounds worth of damage when a man threw dustbins through windows.

Among those attacked, in Cowley Road, east Oxford, early yesterday, were Proctor's Pharmacy and the Excelsior cafe.

Excelsior manager Andrew Koumi said: "I was fast asleep, but I found the mess in the morning when I came down.

"Apparently someone went wild at about 3.30am.

"It looks bad and the window needs changing.

"It will cost about £1,000 to replace it."

A witness to the attacks, who did not wish to be named, said he saw someone throwing dustbins at the windows.

Oxford police spokesman Duncan McGraw said a 22-year-old man had been arrested for criminal damage and had been released on police bail.

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