No joy. Another in the basket but no checkout. This on a poor connection from a Welsh farmhouse. Why couldn’t they run a lottery instead, since payment is not required until the end of the month?
I suspect the ‘first come first served’ arrangement was the simplest and least costly. AUK is a relatively small club with limited financial (and IT) resources, run by members who give up their free time to fulfil the various admin posts; similarly the event organisers and the volunteers who help them are doing it purely for the love of cycling. It is not a profit making business like the sportive companies.
I would suggest that you join AUK: existing members who belonged before March 2015 had guaranteed entry to this year’s LEL.