People queuing for Wimbledon said they’d not moved for hours (Picture: Amer Ghazzal/Shutterstock)
Tennis fans hoping to get tickets to Wimbledon today have complained of being stuck in the queue ‘for hours’, after organisers tightened security.
It’s the first day of the championship, and as is usual, thousands of non-ticket holders joined a queue to buy on-the-day tickets, with some having camped a day or two over the weekend.
James Collins said he was number 8,100 in line and had waited for five hours and not moved.
Posting on Twitter, he described the queue as ‘shambolic’.
Another Twitter user, AJ Marchant wrote: ‘Left Yorkshire at 2am. Joined the #wimbledonqueue at 7am. No progress at all in 7 hours in the queue!
‘What an absolute shambles! No communication at all to anybody waiting in the queue! What a waste of money.’
Jordan Abbott, meanwhile, posted: ‘Security into the grounds is awfully slow and unorganised. The rest of the queue is perfect.’
Some said security was particularly slow (Picture: Amer Ghazzal/Shutterstock)
One person who arrived at 8.30am Tweeted their queue numbers which were over 11,000. They’d been told by a volunteer they may not get in (Picture: @SaiaMike/Twitter)
The frustrations came as the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), which runs the tournament, updated its security arrangements this year amid fears of Just Stop Oil protests.
A number of new items have been added to the list of things banned from taking into the grounds, including cable ties, glue, chains, padlocks, chalk dust and powder substances.
The environmental campaign group disrupted the second Ashes test at Lord’s, the Gallagher Premiership rugby final at Twickenham and the World Snooker Championship.
Another angry tennis fan wrote on Twitter: ‘Got here at 6am and nowhere near security, play started an hour ago. Absolutely shambolic, never been like this before.
‘Sort it out Wimbledon, won’t be queueing again at this rate.’
A Just Stop Oil protester was carried off the pitch at Lord’s by England’s Jonny Bairstow as activists threw orange paint dust during play in June.
AELTC have been contacted for comment.
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Some blamed a slow security system, which was updated this year amid fears of Just Stop Oil protests.