"Fake tickets" were to blame for the "chaos" that unfolded at the New Year's Eve fireworks in London, City Hall has said.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London has said that they were the cause of issues for some of those attempting to watch the central London display.
The statement follows complaints by attendees on TripAdvisor and social media about long queues, poor signage and difficulties accessing allocated viewing areas.
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: "A number of people arrived at ticket gates with fake tickets and were refused entry, and unfortunately this led to delays at entry points."
The spokesperson added that City Hall was working closely with the Met Police to combat the sale of these fake tickets.
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However, visitors have taken to social media to complain about the organisation of the event.
Nikolaj Hansen-Turton wrote an open letter on X, formerly Twitter, to Mayor Sadiq Khan expressing disappointment in how "unorganised, unsafe, and unprofessional" the London New Year’s Fireworks show was.
Despite having joined the queue on time, Nikolaj and others in the Pink section faced long waits, and were ultimately told to go home due to unsafe crowd behaviour.
He said: "As this was the “Mayor of London” show I feel the only way to make this right is to refund all of those in the Pink section, issue an apology on social media / the media, and consider offering those who paid travel compensation.
"I pray nobody was seriously hurt by this mismanagement."
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: "City Hall worked in close partnership with the Met police, Transport for London, British Transport Police and event stewarding teams to put on this year’s spectacular New Year’s Eve celebrations.
"While the vast majority of more than 100,000 ticket-holders enjoyed the display, we’re sorry if any ticketholders were unable to fully enjoy the evening."
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