It was the beginning of the end. Out went the official notice on the closely followed queue tracker: “To avoid disappointment please do not set off to the join the queue”. Mathematics dictated that, with the lying in state due to end on Monday at 6.30am, and a 13 hour wait forecast, the queue was half a day from closing.
The waits had felt necessary for some, making friends and telling stories as they went. But it was not so easy for others: more than 1,000 people have had to received medical care since the lying in state began on Thursday, the London ambulance service, said. A total of 136 had even ended up in hospital.
