It was meant to be the centrepiece of north London Jubilee celebrations but not all Barnet residents were complimentary about the Queen's visit to Copthall.

Dirty seats, poor access and an inability to even see Her Majesty are just some of the complaints levelled by disappointed residents in the aftermath of last Thursday's Royal visit.

Raie Jager, of Raleigh Close, Hendon, described the event as a "shambles". The 74-year-old added: "I thought that it should have been made quite clear there was no seating.

"I am slightly disabled and so I had to leave early as I couldn't stand up any more. People were getting in without tickets and the entertainment was not brilliant either."

Sixty-year-old Sylvia Casserley, of Lullington Garth, Woodside Park, said: "I did feel going in that if there were any really old people there might be some problems just because of the muddy conditions. I happened to be standing exactly opposite where the Queen was sitting and I couldn't see her. We also couldn't see the giant screen because it was so close to us."

Lynne Hillan, Barnet Council's cabinet member for children and community development, was one of the chief organisers of the event. She said: "It is pretty expensive to have a big screen and in an ideal world we probably would have had two but we haven't got a Wembley Stadium and we had to make the most of Copthall. We the Tories only took over control in May and to get everything together in that short time was difficult."

June 14, 2002 11:00