MORE than 1,500 students are expected to descend on Colchester tonight for an organised pub crawl.

Similar events have sparked controversy in other parts of the country, and police here have raised concerns over the adequacy of marshalling of the bar crawl, arranged by Carnage UK.

The route includes Yates’s in Head Street, TPs Sports Bar and Route in Queen Street, and the Slug and Lettuce and Liquid nightclub in High Street.

Tickets, in the form of T-shirts, sold out days ago. It is understood TPs alone sold more than 700 of the tops.

The Action Man v Barbie-themed event is due to start at Yates’s at 9pm and end in Liquid at 3am.

Essex University’s Students’ Union has banned Carnage UK from advertising in its buildings.

The National Union of Students has called for the events to be banned since a Carnage pub crawl in Sheffield got out of hand. One student was pictured urinating on a war memorial.

Colchester police say they will be out in force.

They have asked nightclubs to provide extra door staff for marshalling and have called for assistance from the Street Pastors and the SOS Bus.

ORGANISERS HAVE DEFENDED EVENT. SEE TODAY'S PAPER FOR SPECIAL REPORT