ANGRY parents took to social media to complain after they were forced to wait outside in the cold for hours to book oversubscribed swimming lessons at Five Rivers Leisure Centre.

Many arrived at 6am to queue after being told popular times for beginners lessons were being done on a first-come first-served basis on a Sunday in the beginning of September.

A parent told the Journal that despite arriving at the centre at 7am she didn’t make it to the front of the queue until 10am. Users on Facebook described how they gave up waiting, with others accusing people of saving spaces.

“I’ve been struggling to get my four year old son into swimming lessons at the leisure centre for over six months,” the mum said. “I found out that the sessions for beginners were going to open and that finally I was able to book my son in.

“By the time the bookings opened at 8am, the queue was all the way down the car park. There were only about 20 people in front of me, so I was optimistic that I would get my son booked in fairly quickly.

“However, I didn’t get to the front of the queue until after 10am. The booking system was a very long process, as the staff had to enter all the details onto the system before booking the children on, and then take the payment. It was a very frustrating process, to wait in the cold on an early Sunday morning, just to book a swimming lesson – there has to be a better way to do this in the future?”

The community campus said on Facebook that booking multiple siblings into the system could be time consuming and some of the less popular times for swimming lessons were still available.

A spokesperson for Wiltshire Council, who run Five Rivers, said: “We very are sorry for the unacceptable length of time people had to wait, and we are working hard to improve the system to ensure people don’t have to wait this long in the future.”