So what was the deal with this? I got through the queue pretty quickly then was met with a brick wall stuck behind this for 15 mins. Refreshing just gave a different reference number.
Eventually it stopped and I got through to choosing coach times but then got "all tickets allocated" with sporadic options to choose other cities for 30 mins.
Why did I get the access denied and how can I avoid it next time?
Dire system as expected. Why not just give everyone a queue number instead of a ridiculous progress bar. If you are a high number, you can just stop there and then.