MORE than 100 drunken students rampaged through Amberley on Friday night terrifying residents who were forced to baricade themselves into their own homes.

The students from Cirencester's Royal Agricultural College URINATED in people's gardens, THREW paint on the road, RIPPED OFF windscreen wipers and SCATTERED empty beer cans all over the road.

Villagers say the scenes resembled television images of football hooligans rioting.

College principal Professor Chris Gaskell has condemned the actions of those involved saying he and the college are deeply disturbed by the actions of a minority of students who will face 'severe disciplinary action and be required to pay for the damages.

"The College has been in contact with the Black Horse Inn, as well as a number of residents, and it has been agreed that those students responsible will repair all damage and provide some additional general maintenance in the village," he said.

Trouble started when two double decker buses arrived in the village around 8.30pm.

Rowdy students, who eye witnesses say were already the worse for wear, piled into the Black Horse pub where they carried on drinking for a further hour-and-a-half.

They then began vandalising the pub. Students ripped off wall fittings, broke 15 chairs and some beer pumps, stole vodka, urinated on the bar, and emptied large amounts of soap onto toilet floors.

Pub landlady Sharyn O'Flynn said: "I did know they were coming but I was expecting about 80 or so not the 140 that turned up.

"I do understand that large coachloads of people will be in high spirits. But the scene the students left behind was beyond belief.

"A police officer said he had never seen such destruction – it took 67 hours to clean up.

"This sort of behaviour is very unusual for the Black Horse – we usually enhance the quiet atmosphere of the village."

A resident who was driving back into the village at the time has written to the principal of the college describing what he saw.

The letter states: "Our route was blocked by two large double decker buses trying to negotiate through what must have been obvious were unsuitable narrow lanes.

"The buses stopped and the occupants swarmed off and rushed into the village throwing cans and rubbish as they went.

"The majority paused on their way to urinate over cars, into house doorways and opened gates of gardens to urinate over lawns and flower beds.

"Several saw us sitting in our car and openly stood in front of my wife and I, opened the flies of their trousers and urinated in full view of her.

"The attitude and actions of these people was reminiscent of the images seen on TV of football hooligans rioting and rampaging having no regard for other peoples property and common decency."

Another resident said: "The disorder, noise and disgraceful behaviour right in the heart of the village was extremely alarming and very frightening for older residents and women living alone who were terrified."

The night was organised by the college's students' union. It was called 'Drink the pub dry', where students pay £10 each to travel by coach to a 'top secret' location.

Police confirmed that they attended the incident but said the owner of the pub did not wish to pursue criminal proceedings. Officers will be liasing with the college to discuss ways of curbing poor behaviour.