Sir – This last Saturday afternoon both pavements at Carfax were packed with students shoulder to shoulder, like a very popular demonstration in Trafalgar Square.

People wanting to pass along Queen Street were sharing the roadway with the buses.

I asked a tall gentleman labelled “Staff” if he realised that they were completely blocking the pavement, but he just shrugged his shoulders. After trying to get on further, I turned back, and asked him politely if he realised that causing an obstruction is an offence. He told me to shut up.

Three reinforcements appeared, staff from the same school. They were just a little more reasonable, but when I tried to reply to them, the tall man repeatedly told me to shut up, and they didn’t argue, as he was apparently the overall boss.

I asked where the school is, and one of the smaller men grasped his ID tag tightly in both hands so I couldn’t read its address and telephone number. I believe it is in Windsor.

These young people are not seeing the colleges, they are not spending money locally, and they are certainly not learning English, so I don’t quite see why they have to be there.

There are other open spaces where they would cause less obstruction. I have seen the police cracking down on a very small number of local students causing far less trouble with a perfectly legitimate and justified demonstration, yet here there was not a policeman in sight. This is indeed a regular and predictable public nuisance which the police could attend from St Aldates without any great expense. Roger Moreton, Oxford