Hundreds of furious voters in Manchester were turned away from polling stations after queuing to cast their votes.

Chaos broke out at Didsbury United Reform Church on Barlow Moor Road and Ladybarn Community Centre when officers closed polls at 10 o'clock.

Christopher Jordan, a trainee doctor was one of those unable to vote in Didsbury, and he was among a number of voters who went to Manchester town hall to complain.

Live - General Election results

He said: “Today I have worked a 12 hour 9 til 9 shift at the hospital, I tried to go to vote before work and the queue was too big so I came down after work, it was chaos.

"I queued in one queue and was then told that because the polling station covered two wards I was in the wrong queue. I was sent to the back of the other queue but by the time I got to the front they had closed voting because it was 10 o'clock.

"There was hardly any staff there and people started shouting get on with it, get on with it, as it got to about 10 to 10 as they realised they might not be able to vote.”

Another voter in Didsbury Frances De Rome said “There were only two returning officers at the reform church it wrong that we have been denied our vote at a very important election. I have lived in the constituency 25 years and never seen anything like this. It was chaos like a third world country.”

At least 60 people were also turned away from Ladybarn Community Centre unable to cast their vote. Jennifer Morris said “I went 4 times to try and vote but the queue was massive. people said it had been like that all day.”

Anouska Alwis, 30, said: “I queued for over 30 minutes. When we all arrived we were just told to complain to Howard Bernstein.”

Some voters were turned away by mounted police from Manchester town hall when they went to complain.

Police were called to Ladybarn polling station in Fallowfield after queues of voters snaked outside and down the road.

Angry scenes erupted at 10pm when Council offices announced voting would close.

Live - General Election results

First time voter Rebecca James, 20, was one of those unable to vote. She queued for an hour to get inside the polling station before officials announced voting was over.

She said: “I am really angry. I'm a first time voter and have been looking forward to being able to vote for a while. This was not our fault at all. It was due to poor organisation and not having enough staff. There were only two desks and a massive queue.”

Rebecca, a student who lives on nearby Egerton Road, added that police had to intervene as angry voters confronted polling station staff.

"People were shouting and police had to calm things down,” she said “No-one told us voting would close at 10pm, so everyone was very shocked when they announced it.”

Jo Beesley, 25, a student radiographer, from Fallowfield, was furious that she didn’t get to vote. She went to Ladybarn community centre with her boyfriend Howard Robertson, 38, a computer programmer at around 8.40pm.

“We stood waiting in the queue for ages. Around 9.30pm a woman turned up who I later found out was the mayor. I heard her on the phone requesting extra staff extra people.

"One more person turned up at 9.55pm but that was too late. By the time it got to 10pm and they closed the polls we were in the building but there were still 15 people in front of us.

“While we were standing queuing in the hall all the voting booths were empty because the people on the desks couldn’t get the voting slips out quickly enough.”

"The staff were very unhelpful and the polling station was clearly understaffed. This is a student area where there are voting household of up to eight people, but they seemed unprepared.

“I’m gutted, I am absolutely horrified that I was denied the right to vote because of incompetence especially because this is a very close seat.”

Andy Burgess was also unable to vote at Didsbury United Reform Church. After officers closed polls at 10pm he told how angry voters banded together to collect a list of names and contact details of those who had been unable to vote.

He was among around 10 protestors who then drove to Manchester Town Hall to highlight the problem but due to the strict security in operation they were turned away at the door by security staff.

Andy who lives with wife Elen and two year daughter Isabella on Queenston Road borrowed a rosette from a party campaigner to sneak into the Town Hall to put his case to Withington candidates.

He explained that he tried to vote at 4pm this afternoon but gave up after queueing amongst 250 people then after returning at 9.30pm he was then turned away when polls closed at 10pm.

He said “People were absolutely furious they were ripping up voting cards and throwing them on the floor. We all jumped in our cars to come to the town hall and protest.”

Live - General Election results

Veteran Labour MP Tony Lloyd said “ As I understand it people who feel they've been refused their right to vote are entitled to challenge it.

"There can be a collective petition and what an electoral court would have to decide would be whether the refusal to allow people to vote had been relevant to changing the result from the official declared one.”

He said “A court would carry out a balancing exercise according to which way anyone affected would have voted.

“If we are talking about people who walked in at quarter to nine rather than two minutes to ten its understandable they'd be upset. If I felt I'd been denied my vote I'd be outraged. This is unprecedented and rules are rules but we should be able to cope with any turnout.

"There will need to be a long hard look at the system where no-one feels frustrated like this again.”

A spokesperson for the acting returning officer said “The law states that the doors to a polling station must be closed at exactly 10pm and that no one may be issued with a ballot paper after 10pm even if they are inside the polling station.

The Lord Mayor of Manchester, Coun. Alison Firth had to intervene after receiving phone calls from voters upset that they couldn't vote. She went to Royle Street in Fallowfield where there were around 350 people queuing outside at 9pm and called in support staff from the council to try and ease the problem.

It was understood queues stretched round the building and down two streets and included one elderly lady who had been to the polling station three times to try and vote.

The Lord Mayor said “I went down after receiving phone calls from residents who were upset about not being able to vote. I asked if it was possible to get more staff down and they were sent there for around 9.30pm but there were still significant queues.

There is a big student population and I think they had chosen not to use the postal vote but the rules are that stations must close at 10pm and there's no discretion on that.”

The Electoral Commission said in a statement: “It is a cause for serious concern that many people who wanted to vote today were unable to do so by 10pm when polls closed.


Live - General Election results

Were you affected by the polling station rush on Election night? Contact the MEN newsdesk on 0161 211 2323 or email .