Thursday 1 March 2012

Olympic Tickets

Ever since LOCOG began their jiggery pokery with Olympic Tickets hiding behind a cloak of secrecy I have been very suspicious about their integrity. It has all been too complex and amidst the complexity comes the accusations that the best tickets have been held back for those that can (a) afford them and (b) merit them.


Of course, I write from a platform of ignorance as I do about so much, but at my age I have a well honed nose for scandal and  criminology. What has surprised me is that the Political Class is keeping very quiet about the antics of this private company LOCOG and it seems that, as with Common Purpose, nobody wants to be the one to open the can of worms.


I understand however, that they are about to release another batch of tickets onto the open market. I wonder why? Have these tickets previously been allocated elsewhere and not sold? You see I know that the sports nuts will always support the Games but unless you get access to the fast lane available to the athletes, the officials, the politicians and the downright rich then London will be chaotic!


Amongst the genuine visitors will be thousands of criminals. Pickpockets will have a field day as will muggers. London is not a safe city and I for one have not forgotten the riots last year. Now if I think along those lines then so will many other people.


Today I discovered this radio conversation featuring Baroness Dee Doocey who just happens to be the Chair of the London Assembly's, economy, culture and sport committee. Now if LOCOG will not respond to her enquiries then what chance the rest of us? My nose tells me that something is not right and by the time we discover what it is the killing will have been made.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is happening is that huge percentages of the best tickets are being sold to the rich in packages for 5 times as much as they can get from ordinary people. After it's all over, LOCOG will admit this, and then claim that they were doing Britain a favour by recouping the costs of the Games. This is, however, a lie. LOCOG will recoup only £2 billion of a £14 billion outlay. The extra income from the rich will amount to £1 billion at the very most. That means that ordinary taxpayers will still see losses of £12 billion on the games, rather than £13 billion losses (if tickets had not been sold to the rich), but they will be denied access to most of the best tickets. I think the ordinary taxpayer would prefer to get something good for his £13 billion rather than next to nothing for his £12 billion. That's why this ticketing business is so immoral. By the time it all comes out, it will all be too late. It is in fact, already too late to prevent this outcome.

bryboy said...

Tks for your contribution. You clearly have a better knowledge than me. This what I suspected but what concerns me is why people with influence (like any MP or Lord Coe) are allowing this swindle to happen under the very noses of everyone! It has been obvious from the onset that something dodgy is occurring but not a word from the very people who should be monitoring this!

Anonymous said...

In case you are interested, a massive sale of official French tickets is about to go down in the next 24 hours in all categories at all prices m(including Athletics, Cycling, Gymnastics, etc etc): http://www.eventeam2012.fr/fr_fr/accueil.aspx

The British Government don't want us to buy them (even though our right to do so is guaranteed under European law) on account of the fact that they rate the games as a bigger success if French tourists come to the UK, than if UK citizens actually get to go. That is despite the fact that Europeans outside the UK are well aware they can apply for all allocations of LOCOG UK tickets.