Huge turnout brings chaos to polling stations

In Sheffield angry voters were understood to have travelled to Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's home after the doors were shut at 10pm at a polling station in his Sheffield Hallam constituency.

In Hull polling stations ran out of ballot papers and one had to send for more ballot boxes, while there were huge queues reported in West Yorkshire and Doncaster.

There was confusion last night after some polling stations were understood to have stayed open later than 10pm while others closed, potentially paving the way for legal challenges to the election results.

In Lewisham, London, there were reports that the polling station stayed open for half an hour beyond the 10pm deadline, while in Birmingham it is understood a decision was taken that all people still in the room at the 10pm deadline were allowed to cast their vote.

However in Sheffield the stations shut on time, and all those outside were turned away.

Sheffield University student Kate Allam said she had queued for three and a half hours to vote at the same polling station.

"People have been giving up and walking away," she said. "They've really underestimated what the turnout would be. A lot of students have been desperate to vote this time."

A spokesman for Doncaster Council said: "There have been a lot of queues, it is looking like a very high turnout. The polling stations were able to handle it though, as far as we know no one was turned away."

Problems were seen across the country and police were called to a polling station in Manwood Road, Lewisham, where around 300 people had yet to vote by 10pm, Scotland Yard said.

Voters in the London borough of Hackney, where residents were voting for their MP, councillors and the elected mayor, were turned away from a polling station in Triangle Road after some had been forced to queue for more than an hour and a half, they said.

The Tory mayoral candidate for the borough, Andrew Boff, said at least 150 people were still queuing when the polls closed.

He said the number who were not able to vote before the 10pm deadline could be double that figure, as some people had given up in the face of long queues – and that "it was getting ugly" after people were told they could not vote at the polling station which had just three staff.

Mr Boff said: "At 10pm the ballot boxes were closed and people were told they would not have a vote. People were very angry."

Would-be voters staged a sit-in protest at the building after the ballot boxes closed and police had to be called.

The last person to vote at the polling station after waiting for more than an hour-and-a-half, Liz Veitch, said the queue had been snaking out of the building and down the street.

She said: "It's an absolute scandal. I can't see how the results for Hackney can be counted for the results of the election."

Labour Party deputy leader Harriet Harman said that when she left her Camberwell and Peckham constituency last night, people were still queuing outside waiting to vote.

She said: "It shows that there has been a high turnout. We have got to make sure that all the votes are counted."