The ultimate street party! ONE MILLION Jubilee spectators line the banks of the Thames to celebrate with her Majesty as she passes on Royal barge (2024)

• Transport for London tells visitors to find somewhere else as they announce flotilla viewing platforms are FULL
• Travel chaos as trains and tubes fill up and operators are criticised for services
• 6,000 police officers on the street mean only three minor arrests are made
  

By James Titcomb

Published: 11:12 EDT, 3 June 2012 | Updated: 10:15 EDT, 4 June 2012

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The threat of rain didn't dampen the Jubilee celebrations on the banks of the Thames today, as one million people turned out on the streets of London to enjoy the 1,000-boat Royal flotilla.

Pageant organisers said despite the weather, the huge crowds they had prepared for had turned up to revel in proceedings.

However, the enormous numbers of visitors created chaos on tubes and trains, with packed carriages meaning passengers were unable to board.

Transport for London warned people not to try and watch the flotilla from the already packed viewing platforms. 'The Diamond Jubilee Pageant viewing areas are now full; please avoid and find an alternative location from which to view the event,' TfL said.

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TfL said that they were 'coping' with the hundreds of thousands using transport links close to the river, and that they were running extra trains to cope with demand, but that they had had to divert several bus routes due to the pageant.

Overground train operators also came under fire for apparently failing to lay on extra trains.

Travellers took to Twitter to express their frustration at the services, some saying that travel operators appeared to be laying on a regular Sunday service.

One user, Emma Bradley tweeted: 'SW Trains really should have thought this through. Children literally crying cos can't get on the train at Norbiton, New Malden etc.'

Jeremy Bellamy, a Conservative councillor from Canterbury, wrote: 'Amazed that South Eastern trains seem to have been taken by surprise by the Jubilee weekend.'

But despite frustration for some revellers, most remained upbeat and determined to catch a glimpse of the spectacle on the Thames.

Among them were friends Sarankumar Chandrasekar, 22, and Suhail Vilangil, 25, who said they were proud to see London's 'greatest moment' after moving to the UK from India two years ago.

Mr Chandrasekar, who now lives in Stratford, east London, said: 'This is the greatest moment for London so it's not something you can miss.

'It's a proud moment for us to be here and see the Queen from only 50 metres away.'

Mr Vilangil added: 'We wouldn't let a small thing like rain put us off. There are so many people here who have been so friendly.'

Semera Khan, from Sutton, south west London, said it was clear which member of the Royal Family received the best reception from the crowd.

Ms Khan said: 'The Queen got the biggest cheer. It was brilliant to be here with such an excellent view. It's not going to happen again in my lifetime so I didn't want to miss out.'

By the time the last boats passed under Tower Bridge, only a handful of people remained to watch.

They included Jenny Houghton, who works for the City of London Corporation and husband Neil, as well as her mother June Cornish.

'I just think it's a brilliant opportunity to come and see it, and even though it's pouring with rain, it's something you'll never see again,' Mrs Houghton said.

'We came down here to see the pageant so we wanted to see all of it.

'Besides, we're the great British public and that's what we do!'

Up to 6,000 officers from the Metropolitan Police were overseeing proceedings, and the events proceeded with little trouble. Only three minor arrests have been made, according to a Metropolitan Police spokesman.

It wasn't just in London that the celebrations took place. Residents at the UK's longest Jubilee street party - which straddled two counties - carried on despite the rain, on the border of Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

The kilometre-long party saw more than 3,700 guests and 465 trestle tables span the two towns' high streets and the bridge crossing the Thames.

Red, white and blue ponchos were the order of the day, with the streets transformed into a sea of umbrellas as the heavens opened just as the party got under way.

Sigyta Hart, 60, an acupuncturist who has lived in Goring for 23 years, said: 'It's been astonishing. Everyone's ignored the rain, even though it's on our plates and in our Champagne.'