Time stood still in London on Wednesday, it has emerged.
Big Ben, the famous bell at the top of the 96-metre Elizabeth Tower in Westminster, failed to chime when the dials of the clock briefly stopped.
The four clock dials, one on each side of the tower in the Palace of Westminster that houses Big Ben and four other bells, stopped at 12.55pm, leaving the bells silent at 1pm.
Half an hour later, the clock hands were moved forward but the clock was still running about five minutes late, according to witnesses. By 1.47pm, the hands were moved forward again to show the right time.
“We are aware that the clock dials on the Elizabeth Tower were temporarily displaying the incorrect time on Wednesday afternoon,” a spokesperson for the House of Commons said. “Clock mechanics worked quickly to rectify the issue and the clock is now functioning as normal.”
The 13-tonne Big Ben bell was largely silenced for five years while a major restoration of the Elizabeth Tower took place, with the “bongs” finally resuming regular service in November 2022.
The chimes were silenced in 2017 to protect the hearing of the workers on the tower, and drew much criticism from senior MPs and then prime minister, Theresa May. Scaffolding was put up around the tower immediately after the bells were silenced.
The original cost of the project to the taxpayers and creditors was estimated to be roughly £29m, but after it was confirmed in February 2020 that the Elizabeth Tower had sustained greater damage than originally thought in a May 1941 bombing raid – and asbestos, lead paint and broken glass was discovered – the cost rocketed to nearly £80m.
One of the most visible changes to the tower was the restoration of the clock-face framework to its original colour of Prussian blue, used when it was first built in 1859.
