Ukrainian refugees were being turned away from a new Home Office processing centre in Poland yesterday after being told staff can only process 100 people a day.
The pop-up facility was set up in a grey office block in Rzeszow, two hours drive from Krakow, last week to deal with British visa applications from Ukrainians fleeing war in their homeland.
It reopened at 8am yesterday morning, but by 10.35am staff were telling frustrated customers only the first 100 on what was already a list of 171, would be dealt with on the day and everyone else should try again tomorrow.
One British man, who angrily described the set-up as "a cock-up", stormed out after loudly arguing with a Home Office official, who accused him of trying to bully him.
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More customers were also seen remonstrating with the centre's workers, including one who had been seen in tears and others who appeared to be struggling to cope.
Speaking to me inside where families, including young children, were sitting on the floor, self-employed courier boss Sebastian Kelly described the process as "chaos".
He and his Ukrainian sports therapist wife Iryna landed in Poland on Friday to help her mum Halina Pszennycza, 61, reach safety after fleeing her home in Kyiv. They now want to take Halina, yesterday allocated queue number 143, to their home in Birmingham.
Sebastian, 38, said: "It's chaos. I spoke to one member of staff who said she was only hired on Friday. She was in tears.
"She said they only have one biometrics machine to take people's fingerprints.
"They need to organise themselves and get more staff and more machines."
Sebastian added: "The online visa application process was live on Saturday afternoon, but has now been suspended as the server has been overloaded.
"We were given an appointment for 1pm today, but then yesterday we got another email telling us to just turn up as soon as possible today.
"There is a biometrics centre in Warsaw so I don't understand why they can't do it there, but we went to Warsaw first and were told we had to come here."
Sebastian's wife Iryna, 40, added: "It's a real mess. We'll have to stay again tonight in a hotel and come back again tomorrow.
"They say they only have one machine and it can take between one minute and 20 minutes to scan each person's fingerprints."
Also among those ordered to leave yesterday was housewife Tatiana Kovehagin, her IT worker husband Pavel, 40, and their four children Elizabeth, 16, Ignat, 12, Kamilla, eight, and Yesenia, three.
The family, from Kyiv, want to travel to Orpington, Kent, to stay with Tatiana's brother, who also works in IT.
Tatiana, 40, said: "We need help. It's too expensive for us to stay here in Poland in hotels."
Anna Shturkhun was also sitting on the floor with her two daughters, a 14-year-old also called Anna and eight-year-old Anastasia.
They fled their home in Kyiv after Russian bombs rained down on the capital and her mother's friends were shot dead while driving outside the city.
The trio is now trying to get to Ashbourne, Derbyshire, where Anna's sister Olena works in childcare. Anna's husband Roman, 45, a professional soldier, has stayed in Kyiv to fight Vladimir Putin's invaders.
Anna said: "We don't know yet if we will get visas today or if we will have to come back another day. We have been told it is slow because a biometrics machine is broken.
"We had to leave Kyiv because it wasn't safe anymore, but I want to get back to our home as soon as possible. We just need somewhere safe to stay for now."
David, a Lithuanian-born bricklayer who now has British citizenship, said he had first visited the centre on Friday but was turned away before returning again yesterday.
He is trying to help his Ukrainian wife's sister and her three children, aged 15, five and two, to his home in Northampton.
He said: "It's bad service and it's even busier today. It's not working well. They won't get anywhere like this."
According to UN estimates, 1.7million people have fled Ukraine in the 11 days since Russian leader Vladimir Putin first waged war on the country.
Under current rules, only those with a family member already in Britain will be welcomed by Home Secretary Priti Patel, leading to calls for her to go further.
An open border offer for Ukrainians was rejected by the Government last week over security fears.
But Ms Patel, who visited the Polish border on Friday to witness the crisis for herself, is now investigating the possibility of offering any Ukrainian refugee fleeing their homeland a “humanitarian route” to the UK.
