Senior Tutors at all the colleges received an email today from the Emergency Department of Addenbrooke’s Hospital, complaining about the behavior of masses of drunk students who “inundated” Accident and Emergency last night, between the hours of six o’clock in the evening and four o’clock this morning.

Various students, many in fancy dress, had been hospitalised with injuries from fights or because of severe intoxication. It is believed that the students had come from a rugby or rowing event, although the colleges involved are not known. The students were “disruptive, rude and frequently had to be told to stop wandering between the different areas of the department as they shuttled between their friends in different cubicles”, according to an email sent to St Catharine’s students by the Senior Tutor, Irena Borzym. Borzym states in her email that the students concerned were not from St Catharine’s College.

However she nonetheless reminds her students about the importance of treating hospitals with “respect”: “We are very fortunate to have free access to medical help in this country. I hope that no one from this college will ever be guilty of such behavior but I have requested that the Dean be especially harsh in his penalty if one or more of our students do behave in this way.”

Addenbrooke’s Hospital, which was opened in 1766, is part of Cambridge University Hospitals and receives nearly 100,000 Accident and Emergency attendances a year. Many Cambridge medical students work at the hospital during the clinical part of their degree. It is not known if any medical students were involved in last night’s disruptive behaviour.