There was an outcry after swathes of empty seats were spotted at popular Olympic events during the first days of the Games. It was revealed that these seats belonged mainly to dignitaries and members of the nauseatingly named ‘Olympic family’ who had not bothered to show up.
More than 100 prime seats at the Aquatic Centre were empty yesterday when Tom Daley and Peter Waterfield competed in the diving competition. There were also spaces for the tennis in Wimbledon, the hockey and the handball.
Seeking to remedy the problem, the International Organising Committee (IOC) will meet sporting federations each evening to decide which blocks of tickets should be put back on sale that evening. At midnight, tickets for events taking place the following day will appear on the official London 2012 website (tickets.london2012.com).
On Monday Locog sold 600 tickets for gymnastics, 700 for beach volleyball and more than 100 for swimming. The tickets were sold in minutes.
In another move to keep Olympic fans on their toes, culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has proposed a 30-minute rule, meaning that seats still empty 30 minutes into an event will be up for grabs.
However Hunt said his hands are tied by the rules of the IOC.
“We are hosting this event under a contractual arrangement we have with the International Olympic Committee and Sports Federations, and so we do have to respect what we had to agree to contractually in order to get London to host the Games,” he said.
The 30-minute rule is, apparently, being considered but objections have been raised. Not least that spectators may be held up on public transport.
What do you think should be done to sort out the London 2012 ticketing fiasco?
Here’s where to look for reclaimed tickets to the Olympics: tickets.london2012.com
