It seems to get worse every year. The year before last, I spat my dummy and said I am not going after trying to get through on the home phone,my mobile, and trying on line for 3 hrs. After a couple of minutes to calm down, I rode over to the Pier Head Liverpool, joined the queue for 15 min, and was sorted out straight away.
Last year, I did not bother to try and phone, just went straight to the Pier Head, but it took about 1 hr to get to the desk.
This morning was nearly another disaster. I got there just after 9.00am, to find everyone moaning. Some had been there since 7.30am and travelled a fair distance, but nothing was happening. Staff said the system was down, and there was nothing they could do. Whilst in the queue, I tried to go on line, but was shown a system busy. People behind me in the queue were getting through and getting there booking. The line started to move about 10.30am, I finally got through on line when there was about four people in front of me.