Hundreds queue for benefit

More than two million people called a telephone help line

The Inland Revenue has apologised to more than 200 parents who had to queue for up to five hours to collect benefits.

The chaos was caused by the introduction of a new way of paying Child Tax Credit, which meant the money was a month late.

Since Tuesday, hundreds of parents a day have been forced to queue to get the money they are entitled to in Sunderland, .

The government has already admitted it has suffered difficulties in administering the new tax system.

According to the Treasury 75,000 extra UK children will benefit under the Child Tax Credit, which will be worth about £500 a year for a family with two children.

Janet McCree, a mother of two from Houghton-le-Spring, said she queue for almost five hours at the Inland Revenue's inquiry centre in Sunderland.

She also said she was unable to get through on a special telephone helpline set up by the Inland Revenue.

We accept things are not sorted, but we are also asking people to bear with us

Dave Gostello, Inland Revenue

She said: "When I arrived at the office in Sunderland I was told I was already number 157 in the queue.

"They said I might not been seen that day and I could be faced with coming back and going through it all again."

Inland Revenue spokesman Dave Gostello, admitted mistakes were made.

He said: "We are full apologies for what has happened and we would ask people to try and bear with us.

"The level of visitors that we are receiving at our inquiry centres is unprecedented and we are putting more resources in.

"We have put an extra 700 people into our call centre to man help lines.

"We realise and accept things are not sorted but we are also asking people to bear with us.

"To have to wait more than five hours to be seen in an Inland Revenue inquiry office is way beyond the normal sort of service we would like to offer."