Coronavirus: Hundreds turned away at Solihull test centre

The centre was closed early due to the level of congestion in the area

A mobile coronavirus test centre was closed early as people reported scenes of "chaos" as it was overwhelmed.

About 400 people arrived at Solihull's Monkspath Hall Road centre without a completed booking, the local council said.

It blamed a "glitch" in the government's online booking system.

Long queues were seen in the area and the site was shut down at about 14:00 BST on Thursday, but has reopened as normal on Friday.

Solihull Council said it had made the decision "due to the level of congestion at the site and surrounding roads".

The government said it was confident of increasing capacity nationally to 500,000 tests a day by the end of October

Karen Davies, from Erdington, had an appointment for her disabled son to be tested at 14:05, but said she was "disgusted" after getting 800m from the site only to be told it was shut.

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She said she had joined queues just over a mile from the centre.

"Everyone was waiting for a test, there were young children, people in nurse uniforms, carers, people who had travelled from Coventry and further in the queue," she said.

"I am not sure what I am suppose to do now, I tried to get a home test but there are none available."

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James Brodie, from Oldbury, said he queued for 45 minutes just to get to the entrance of the centre's car park where he was turned away by police.

"It was absolute chaos. The stress levels are already high and this just makes it so much worse," he said.

"We have tried for four days to get anything within an hour of home with no luck and then this appointment popped up at midday which we were so relieved about. And then this."

Solihull Council said it understood people's frustrations and acknowledged it was "not their fault", but urged those without a valid QR code not to turn up.

The head of NHS Test and Trace Baroness Harding has admitted demand for coronavirus testing is "significantly outstripping" capacity.

She said she was "very confident" capacity could be raised to 500,000 tests a day by the end of October.

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