£50m lottery voting problem

Thousands of people around the country are struggling to vote for where £50 million of lottery cash should go.

The Big Lottery Fund has revealed that on Monday when internet voting started, 33,000 people successfully registered.

However, Mike Thomas, 67, from Netherton was just one of dozens of people in the Black Country who is struggling to vote on the www. thepeoples50million.org.uk website. "It wouldn't accept my vote and after a few tries I left it," he said.

Julia Sweidan from the Big Lottery Fund said: "Some people experienced a glitch in registering. This is due to the necessary high level of security on the site, which is designed to strike a balance between accessibility and accountability.

"We are contacting everyone who alerted us to having difficulties, with advice on registration and a helpline telephone number to guide them through the registration process."

Anyone having problems voting can find more information at www.thepeoples50million.org.uk/faq or call the helpline on 08450 101112. And people will also be able to vote by telephone once the ITV show on the competing bids starts on December 6.