A surgeon has appealed to May Morning revellers for restraint amid fears injuries could hit a new peak as the event falls on a Sunday for the first time in more than a decade.

A reveller plunges off Magdalen Bridge on May Morning last year

May Days that fall on that day historically attract the most reckless behaviour, with a higher proportion of the huge crowds inebriated, following Saturday night drinking.

Forty injuries, some serious, were recorded the last time it fell on a Sunday, in 1994.

Among the casualties was a student in his early twenties, who jumped off the bridge, and is today still in a wheelchair.

The horrific catalogue of spinal injuries suffered by revellers taking part in one of Oxford's most dangerous traditions, leaping from Magdalen Bridge into the River Cherwell, has led an Oxford surgeon to plead for restraint on May Day, when thousands gather on Magdalen Bridge to hear choristers sing from the top of Magdalen tower when the sun rises, at 5.30am.

Consultant Jeremy Fairbank warned that people risked fractures and spinal injuries that could leave them paralysed by plunging into shallow water.

Mr Fairbank said he had decided to highlight the seriousness of injuries that he and his colleagues have treated in an effort to avoid further May Morning tragedy.

Mr Fairbank, consultant spine surgeon at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, fears revellers have little idea of the consequences. He said: "I know of at least three people who have sustained spinal fractures jumping off Magdalen Bridge on May Day in the last 10 years.

"If you jump from 20 feet, you risk sustaining fractures, commonly of the heels, pelvis and spine. Heel bone fractures can lead to a lifetime of painful walking and standing."

He said some injuries were comparable to those sustained in parachute accidents.

"Spine fractures can cause spinal cord damage and paralysis. This type of paralysis is usually permanent and will confine you to a wheelchair. This can ruin your life or at least radically change it. You can also ruin someone else's life if you jump on to them."

He echoed ambulance and police calls for common sense, stressing that as well as being shallow, the Cherwell can contain rubbish such as bicycles and supermarket trolleys.