The Corporation of London has failed with their latest ‘booking’ system at the Hampstead Heath ladies’ pond

• I AM writing to call your attention to a disappointing situation I was part of this past weekend.

On Sunday May 2, just after 9.30am, as the bright blue sky was beginning to cloud over, a group of around 30 women (most from different households) gathered in front of the ticket office at the Ladies’ Pond in Hampstead Heath.

This was no intentional illegal gathering of radical bathers, it was simply the result of the City of London Corporation’s over-engineered reservation system, in place from May 1, for all three of the Heath’s bathing ponds.

Instead of a simple “one-in, one-out” policy (which would have aptly managed the crowd), to enjoy a leisurely swim after 9.30 on a weekend, you need to set an alarm for noon the Monday beforehand, dash away from whatever you are doing when it rings, and connect to an online booking system to reserve the precise hour when, in five to six days’ time, you will have said leisurely swim.

A reasonable request in today’s sanitary climate, you may say, but this well-intentioned safe­ty measure creates more crowds than it controls.

Forced reservations will make the free-flow times at the start of the day busier, making the Sunday situation increasingly likely.

At 9.15 the pond was at capacity so we (rightly) queued outside to wait for people to leave so that we could enter.

When 9.30 came around, instead of continuing in this sensible way, to follow the new rules the whole lot of us had to wait until 10.30 (the earliest reserved slot) to be allowed in.

Too bad for the woman in front of me who only had an hour to herself before needing to return home to take care of her small children.

Too bad for the woman behind me who arrived by 9.20 to use her over-60s free-entry but with the new reservation system had the option of waiting an hour with the rest of us (and paying entry) or coming back another day.

There must be a better way to handle this. Stick to “one in, one out”? Increase the hours of free-flow entry? How about follow a similar policy to all the terraces in London and allow for both reservations and walk-ins?

I did wait it out as the sunny Sunday morning chilled and greyed. “It is the principle of the thing” my queueing neighbour said, and I agree.

I admire the foresight of the women who arrived at 10.30, reservation in hand, who swanned straight through the gates. But such planning shouldn’t be required for a dip with the ducks on a cloudy weekend morning.

LUCY P
Full name supplied, NW3

PS: It should be noted that when faced with the group of disgruntled ladies the lifeguards acted with grace and efficiency making the best of an uncomfortable situation.