Ms Hayden told the Express that there were several misleading and contradictory statements in the emails and communication between the BBC and the public. She explained what she was told as she went through the process.

She said: “In February 2023, I entered the Ballot and provided the details of my guest and me. This included having to provide our UK Passport numbers.

“The BBC T&Cs for the Ballot explained that only those who were successful would be contacted and this would be in late April 2023. Successful entrants would have two weeks to claim their tickets.

“Yesterday (Wednesday, April 26) at 12.05 I received an email stating I had been successful and had until 12.00 on April 27 to claim my tickets.”

Like many, Stephanie believed she had until April 27 (Thursday) to claim her tickets, but soon chaos would reign as the process quickly unravelled.

Ms Hayden said there was a reference to “first come first served”, but that it “appeared inconsistent with the general tone of the email, which concluded with: “We look forward to seeing you on 7 May.”

She added: “I attempted to claim my tickets at 12.10 BST but they were all gone.

“The email was plainly misleading and contradicted the terms and conditions set out by BBC Studios when entering the Ballot in February 2023, which stated winners would be contacted in late April, and only those successful would be contacted.”

Furthermore, Stephanie said that Ticketmaster has now made separate declarations about previous ballots.

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Stephanie said: “Ticketmaster now claims there were two earlier ballots three weeks ago (this contradicts the express terms of the T&Cs) and that the ‘winners’ yesterday were being notified of a first come first served opportunity.”

Stephanie said this statement was “again contrary to the T&Cs” and that her real concern is “the lack of contrition or apology from either Ticketmaster or the BBC”.

She added: “Many people were misled and feel let down. There must be an acceptance of culpability for the mess and an apology.”

Another member of the public was also left displeased. Elisa Arias, 44, a freelance content producer, said she had a theory about why there was so much chaos and accused Ticketmaster of bullying customers.

She said: “They sent a massive email to get everyone to register to Ticketmaster regardless. Also, I think they had fewer tickets to allocate than they claim. It’s all very fishy.

“The first email was so full of contradictions that the least they could have done was to send an apology, but they continued bullying us as if we couldn’t read or check the BBC T&Cs page.”

Ms Arias added that by the time she was told the tickets had gone, she was already in the process of making babysitting arrangements.

Just like Ms Hayden, Ms Arias was disappointed by the lack of professionalism by both the BBC and Ticketmaster: “One would have expected a more professional approach to this It looked like some ticketing business run by interns.

“Something with the Royal Family and BBC names attached to it should have been handled with a lot of care and professionalism, this is not a PTA event.”

A spokesperson from the BBC sent the Express Ticketmaster’s statement and added: “Members of the public were invited to apply for tickets and there was a deadline after which all applications were processed, regardless of when they were submitted. Those who were successful were notified and had three weeks to accept their tickets.

“Unclaimed tickets were then reallocated via a second ballot to people who had not originally been successful. Those people then also had three weeks to accept their tickets. Today, the final unclaimed tickets were made available to anyone who had originally applied but not been successful in the ballots.

“This was done on a first-come, first-served basis, as outlined in the communication, because timings didn’t allow for a third ballot and in order to ensure that the remaining tickets went to people who still wanted them and were not wasted.”

They added: “This is the same process we used for the Platinum Jubilee Party at the Palace last year, without any issues. Anyone who was successful in the original ballot and accepted their tickets within the deadline was not affected.”

A spokesperson for Ticketmaster said: “Everyone who was successful in the two main ballot rounds for the Coronation Concert was offered a guaranteed pair of tickets, provided they claimed them within three weeks.

“Yesterday, any unclaimed tickets were released on a first-come, first-served basis to those who had previously applied to the ballot (and were unsuccessful). These inevitably went very quickly.”

Preparations continue ahead of the Coronation on May 6.

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