More than 100 people who booked a coronavirus test in Catford faced long queues before being turned away as they were not sent a required QR code.

Charlotte, 32, booked a test for herself and her ten-year-old son after they both developed Covid-19 symptoms.

She witnessed scores of people being sent packing from a lorry park on Canadian Avenue, as a technical error meant they were not sent a confirmation email containing a barcode which must be scanned to verify bookings.

Charlotte, a primary school teacher from Bromley, said: “During my 60 minutes on site trying to rebook my test, I witnessed every single car being refused for the same reason.

“Some people where behaving extremely unacceptably towards the staff, shouting at and threatening them.

“The whole experience was very unsafe.

“Many people - who come for a test and therefore were clearly suspected carriers - were taking their masks off to hurl abuse at the staff, or while they were talking to 119 on the phone.”

News Shopper:

Charlotte's subsequent attempts to rebook have been unsuccessful, with her being told that no tests are currently available.

The uncertainty means she will now have to self-isolate, and will be unable to visit her parents, who she helps takes care of.

She added: “I feel this will affect us being able to visit them in the future, because of the risk we could pose to his health.

“I would never forgive myself if anything serious happens to him because of contact with us.”

Henry Bull, 29, said he cycled around five miles from his home in Peckham to the testing site after booking an appointment online because he had a cough.

"I biked down there for about 10, 15 minutes before my appointment time and there was just absolute pandemonium, chaos," he said.

"The entire junction is gridlocked with cars queuing to get into it, loads of car drivers getting out and shouting at each other to move out of the way.

"Meanwhile, once you actually get to the site, nobody has received the QR code that you have to have to get tested."

Mr Bull said there were "lots of very angry people" shouting at each other and the staff, while one woman who had been queuing for four hours burst into tears after being told she would not be seen.

"A pretty horrible, stressful situation all round to be honest, lots of very upset people, presumably several of whom have Covid as well so exposing a lot of us to infection," he added.

Mr Bull said they were all asked to leave without getting tested, and he did not know how he would now be able to get a test.

Tom Copley, Deputy Mayor of London for Housing, tweeted: "Massive gridlock in Catford.

"Turns out a drive through Covid testing centre has been opened here. All roads inc south circular totally gridlocked.

"And after all that nobody is getting tested because none of them have received a QR code. Shambles doesn’t even begin to describe it."

G4S, which runs the testing site, said that they were not responsible for QR codes, which are issued by the Government's online booking system.