Now for the queue to join the queue
‘Mayhem’ as wait time hits 14 hours and line is closed to newcomers
THE line to see the Queen lying in state descended into ‘mayhem’ yesterday as it was closed to new mourners – seeing a queue to join the queue spring up.
When wait times reached a colossal 14 hours yesterday morning, tailing back five miles to Southwark Park in southeast London, civil servants said the queue would be suspended for an initial six hours.
But determined members of the public still arrived in their droves as they refused to miss the chance of saying goodbye to Her Majesty – forcing organisers to do a U-turn and reopen the park.
The extra crowds were put in a ‘holding pen’ before the queue was eventually reopened just after 5pm – but with warnings of a wait time of more than 24 hours and cold temperatures overnight. ‘It’s mayhem, no one’s told us what’s happening,’ a security guard said.
Two sisters fresh off their flight from New York were among the final group able to join the queue before it was initially closed.
Kelly, 64, and Barbara Lamb, 71, made a last-minute dash across the pond on Friday to pay their respects. After landing in London at 6am, they saw the announcement that the queue was closed just before they arrived.
‘We came straight here anyway, we were already on our way so we just hoped we’d make it,’ Kelly said. Wiping away a tear, she added: ‘It’s the end of the era, it’s William’s grandmother, she’s the image of stability.’
Terence Houlahan, 56, was also lucky enough to make the cut after cycling five hours from Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire on his Penny Farthing. He planned to cycle home again after seeing the Queen at, he estimated, around 2am this morning.
‘I don’t care how long it takes, I will see her,’ he insisted.
The intense waiting hours led to hundreds of people fainting and collapsing in queues.
The NHS said it had cared for 435 patients who fell ill along the queuing route and surrounding areas by the end of Thursday.
The London Ambulance Service has drawn up plans to deploy an extra 300 staff on Monday, the day of the state funeral.
Yesterday’s chaos started shortly before 10am when the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which has been overseeing the Queen’s lying in state, said: ‘Southwark Park has reached capacity. Entry will be paused for at least six hours. We are sorry for any inconvenience. Please do not attempt to join the queue until it re- opens.’ But the message had failed to reach the hi-vis security guards on the ground, who were
‘No one has told us what’s happening’
still allowing people to pile into the back of the queue.
By 11am, as many as 31,000 people were thought to have been crammed into the park. The gates then slammed shut at 11.35am, when security guards ordered people to ‘go and chill out’.
There was also confusion in the disabled queue at the Tate Modern, designed for faster access but where onlookers estimated that up to 1,000 people and veterans in wheelchairs and using walking sticks were waiting for hours.
Mark Forkgen, 53, a music teacher from Kent, was told he would have to queue overnight with his wife Mary, 58, who has a spinal condition. ‘They put the gates up and said it’s closed until midday tomorrow so we either had to queue until then or come back and get a timed ticket for another day,’ he said late yesterday afternoon, adding: ‘ It’s been really poorly managed.’ Mr and Mrs Forkgen were among 200 people eventually given a timed ticket for early on Saturday morning.
In the main ‘Elizabeth Line’, as it has been dubbed, angry mourners who had made lengthy journeys to take part in the historic occasion said they were ‘gutted’ to arrive at a closed queue. The first people stuck outside were Eileen and David Smith from Birmingham.
Mr Smith said: ‘We were up at four to be here and now they’re telling us we have to leave again. It’s just not nice.’
Just behind them were Paul Barnes, 66, and his wife Sukanya Titran, 47, who had travelled from Lincolnshire. Peering through the gates, Mr Barnes said: ‘I feel disappointed, I’ve taken a day off to do this like so many others here.’
Angus Hamilton, 68, and his wife Marian were also trapped on the wrong side of the gates.
Mr Hamilton said: ‘It’s all pointless, they’re saying go away but we’re not going to, it’s human nature, if we leave more people will join in front of us.’
Maxine Plant, 35, made the fivehour journey with her family from Bolton. ‘We were gutted to see the
message, having to wait six hours like they said would have meant we couldn’t go in at all, we’ve got a train home booked for 9pm,’ she said.
But the committed British public took their love for queuing to the next level and started to form a separate line as they waited patiently to be allowed through. Confused organisers then reopened the official queue just 20 minutes later, allowing them to join the end of the mammoth ‘Elizabeth Line’.
‘The official line is the queue’s closed, but it’s clearly open. We just wanted to reduce the number of people that turned up,’ one security guard said.
It was good news for the hundreds who formed a queue to join the queue, including sisters Zaida Jadim, 58, and Annabella Gonzalez.
Miss Jadim, a former British Airways hostess of 23 years, is a big fan of the royals after serving afternoon tea to the Prince and Princess of Wales just after their engagement.
‘They were so lovely and polite,’ she said.
By 3pm, the queue was flowing normally again despite officially being closed. Tens of thousands have queued for days to see the monarch’s coffin raised on a catafalque in Westminster Hall since it officially opened on Wednesday.
It will be open 24 hours a day until closing to crowds at 6.30am on Monday, ahead of the state funeral in Westminster Abbey.