A POLICEMAN hailed the use of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts after it emerged three students, thought to be members of a notorious Oxford University student dining club, had been issued with the punishments.

The students, though to be members of the Bullingdon Club, were asked to sign a declaration their behaviour would improve after disturbances at a party in Kingston Road, Jericho.

Partygoers in evening suits threw Champagne bottles into the street, damaged cars and abused neighbours during the gathering on March 3 last year.

After neighbours complained to police, three students were asked to sign Acceptable Behaviour Contracts — known as ABCs — which said they would not annoy neighbours, smash bottles, be abusive, cause harassment, alarm or distress or encourage their friends to cause trouble.

One Kingston Road resident said: “They were all dressed like the Bullingdon Club. It was atrocious behaviour.

“A neighbour knocked on the door to complain and they just shouted abuse at him. They are just rich, spoiled idiots.”

Pc Jim Abram, of Oxford’s crime and nuisance action team, said: “The ABCs were 100 per cent effective. The people involved were very positive and we had no repeat incidents, for which I thank them.”

The ABCs expired in October. If the students had breached the agreements they could have faced court action, or been issued with an antisocial behaviour order.

An Oxford University spokesman said its proctors’ office had spoken to police about the incident, but declined to comment further.

The Bullingdon Club was founded over 200 years ago as a dining society for wealthy students, and has several times been the subject of complaints over raucous behaviour.

Former members include Witney MP and Conservative Party leader David Cameron and Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and former Henley MP.