London united yesterday as we all gathered at the polling stations dotted around the city to place our votes in the general election. Polls were open from 7am in the morning until 10pm at night, but for many this time window simply wasn’t long enough. Complaints are pouring in today because hundreds of voters were denied their chance to vote due to long queues as the deadline loomed.

This election has been a close race for the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties. Nobody had been able to hazard a guess at who would win, especially since Nick Clegg won over so many after the first major televised debate in the lead up to the election. Labour have fallen out of favour since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, due to the poor handling of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the financial crisis of the UK’s recession and the high levels of unemployment. The Tories have not been in power since Margaret Thatcher heavily divided opinions, but more people seem to be coming round to their way of thinking.

Our Mitcham escorts understand the importance of voting, and all those who had the right to vote in the UK found time to hand in their ballot papers yesterday. Luckily, none of them were caught in the queues that formed towards the end of the day. Reports have emerged that all over the country, including Hackney in East London, voters were left queuing for hours, but were turned away without being able to place their votes as the polls closed at 10pm sharp. Many polling stations were not prepared for the high turnout, having to close briefly during the day when they ran out of ballot papers.

In Sheffield, Police had to be called when riots broke out amongst students who were turned away at the end of the day. They protested by preventing the ballot box from being removed at 10pm, enraged that their right had been taken away due to bad preparations.

The leading politicians have condemned the events of yesterday, baffled at how the situation came to this. Great Britian has worked hard to become one of the best democracies in the world, but simple mistakes prevented hundred from the vote that they were entitled to. There are bound to be many more complaints, but it is currently unknown how this situation will be resolved.