I contacted BMW UK about the problems and here is their reply:-
"hello Jim
Thank you for contacting us about the online configurator.
Unfortunately we are experiencing technical difficulties with our online configurator at the moment and we are working on getting the issue resolved. The configurator is in live transmission, so it is updating while it is live as there are still functions that are working normally, this is to keep the configurator running instead of taking it down and fixing it. This should be back to normal very soon for you to configure your perfect BMW.
I hope this has been helpful and if there is anything else I can help you with, please do not hesitate to get back in touch.
Kind regards
Reece
BMW Group UK
Reece Wood
Customer Support Executive"