PM presenter Eddie Mair said it was not uncommon for the start of the chimes – which ring in 6pm at the end of the early evening Radio 4 programme – to vary.
Advertisement
Ian Westworth, one of the three clocksmiths, said: “The error started building up and went slightly unnoticed over a weekend”.
The problem with the huge bell that forms part of the clock tower of the British parliament started around August. 15, say engineers who are still checking the pendulum, air pressure, temperature and gears.
Big Ben keeps time for politicians in neighbouring Westminster, but it seems the clock has been bonging early for the past two weeks. “You can’t just wind the hands forward or wind the bell forward to make it catch up those five or six seconds that it was wrong”.
‘Imagine running your vehicle for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for the last 156 years’.
However, while adjusting the clock, Big Ben fixed itself.
Westworth said that the great clock has now settled down, but he cautioned that timepiece could still experience a few more inaccuracies in its timing in the future.
Westworth said the Great Clock became “temperamental” and admitted they have no clue why it happened.
The speed of the clock is controlled by adding and removing weights to a pendulum. It does have a little fit every now and then.
“It is a little temperamental”.
Though the clock tower is popularly generally known as Huge Ben, the identify truly refers back to the 13 ½- ton Nice Bell inside.
Initial attempts by the team to correct the mechanism made it run slow. We can tell if it’s going slightly fast or slow’.
Advertisement
Surveyors checking on the tower recently found it tilts 18ins from vertical.
