IN response to Mr I K Dennis (Letters, March 3) who experienced difficulties booking at the BIC, we would like to offer our sincere apologies to him for the service on Monday.

Due to the popularity of our exciting events programme and the increase in bookings we now receive, we have undergone an upgrade of our software system in order to improve our service.

In order to complete this, our website had to go through several testing sessions which left it inaccessible for a period of time. Even though we provided extra phone cover, the additional demand on our staff taking phone bookings did result in longer waits on the telephones and in some cases queues which reached maximum capacity and asked customers to call back later.

Our telephone line is not a premium line number and comes under a lo-call plan which is 5p per minute from landlines and varies with mobile phone providers.

I am pleased to say the improved booking service is now fully operational and I would hope to see significant benefits to customers as a result.

Gail Collins, event sales and marketing manager, BIC/Pavilion