Still three to four hours away from the front of the line, they faced the worst of the London night when temperatures dropped to 6C. Some stepped out of the line to get a hot drink, while others visibly battered by the cold and hours of standing were forced to sit and huddle. In the past 24 hours, a man has been charged with sexually assaulting two women in line, more than 400 people have passed out while waiting in line and the government has warned mourners to dress for the falling temperatures. Brenda Hornsby, who traveled from the Lake District with her husband, said she almost passed out in the queue (Thomas Kingsley/The Independent) Brenda Hornsby, 60, who traveled from the Lake District with her husband, said she nearly passed out in the queue after standing for more than an hour last night. “They left us under the river for an hour without moving – I saw two people collapse, I almost collapsed. I had to sit down,” Ms Hornsby told The Independent. “Through the fatigue and the cold and the immobility I began to feel dizzy. Someone gave me a bottle of water and I got a coffee later. “We’ve been here since 11 p.m. which we did in Bermondsey – it was very cold,” he added. “There was a big gap between where we started and the facilities – some people were struggling.” Ms Hornsby said the queuing experience was different to what she expected after watching TV coverage where the scenes were more pleasant. He described the fury stirring among mourners after some visitors said they could not regain their seats after using the toilet or drinking a hot drink. Amber Jardine, 45, a conservationist from Glasgow, said the line was in chaos throughout the night after the queue stopped – causing arguments and commotion in the freezing cold. Amber Jardine, a conservationist from Glasgow said the line was chaos all night (Thomas Kingsley/The Independent) He said the police had to intervene as a group of drunken workers started disturbing the mourners. “It’s been very cold but the fact that the queue stopped twice for a medical incident and to do a rehearsal meant people were angry and skipping the queue. You couldn’t go to the toilet without people getting angry,” Ms Jardine told the Independent. He said it was clear people could not stand the cold and at many points he wanted to give up, but a sense of camaraderie among the visitors and respect for the Queen made the chaos bearable. “The fact that we came to pay our respects to the Queen is what holds things together,” he said, but bemoaned the lack of support from the judges throughout the night. “The flight attendants are not helpful, they were letting people skip the line. I saw someone almost get into a fight because of it. It would be good if they knew more information about where the facilities were and what was going on at points. Blanket-clad sisters Caroline, Rosie and Sandra, who traveled from Dublin on Friday to pay their respects to the Queen, said there was “no chance of turning back now” despite the cold and fatigue. Seren Toye, Sandra Mughal, Gordon Walker, Rosie McBride and Caroline Delaney (left to right) waited all night to see the Queen’s coffin (Thomas Kingsley/The Independent) “We’ve been here since 10pm last night,” said Caroline Delaney. Asked how the experience was during the night, she quipped: “What do you think?” “It was freezing, there should have been more places for tea and the toilets were far away [Southwark Park]there were about two in there without the toilet,” added her sister Rosie McBride. “At one point we were stuck for about an hour and a half without moving – that’s terrible in the cold. There was a rehearsal, so things really slowed down,” Ms McBride said. “You didn’t know what was going on, one of the ushers told us what the problem was,” added the sister’s friend from New York, Gordon Walker. “We’re excited now that we’re getting to the front,” the team said.
“It’s like a pilgrimage”
However, for some mourners, the line was just beginning and a potential 16-hour wait lay ahead. A group of five family members from Leeds arrived in London on Saturday morning on a mission to see the Queen lying in state before their coach left at midnight. Family members Julie Ambler, Lexi Simpson, Deborah Simpson, Holly Simpson and Michaela Marsh joined the queue this morning (Thomas Kingsley/The Independent) “We’ve got 18 hours to see her, we’re doing Cinderella,” Michaela Marsh, 55, joked. “We’ll see how far we get, it’s amazing that everyone is doing this and it’s great that it’s such a long queue – it shows real respect for [the Queen].” The family said he will have to go home if he is not in line by midnight, but will attend the funeral together on Monday. “We were determined to get down here. We saw the issues around the queue filling up, but we just wanted to pay our respects and be a part of it,” he added. “It’s like a pilgrimage. It will be really embarrassing if we don’t make it. We would be devastated, we might have to start begging people to jump forward.” “I might have to use my cuteness,” her 10-year-old granddaughter joked. According to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the current waiting time is 16 hours with the queue starting at Southwark Park, nearly five miles from Westminster Hall.
