Organisers of London 2012 release 1.3 million tickets for London 2012

[richard]

Organisers of London 2012 now say the 1.3million extra ‘contingency’ tickets were held back while seating plans for the 2012 Olympics & Paralympics were completed & venues tested.

The most popular events will be included in the new sale, such as the London 2012 opening and closing ceremonies and the men’s 100m finals, swimming and track cycling.

But many fans have been left confused. In June, 1.9million applied for London 2012 through a ballot, and two-thirds – about 1.2million – were left disappointed.

Critics have argued that by limiting the supply, organisers of the London 2012 Olympics conveniently increased demand for tickets.

Even handball, which is little-known in the UK, sold out during the second-chance sale in June, when 2.3million tickets were up for grabs, including 1.6million for football.

Many fans, it appears, were unaware that a million more tickets across all sports would go on sale in 2012. Those who failed to get tickets the first time will go to the front of the queue when the remaining tickets are released.

A spokesman for the Olympic organising committee Locog said: ‘We held back around one million tickets until the seating plans for our venues had been completed, and many of the venues had been tested and licensed.

‘Some of our venues – including beach volleyball at Horseguards Parade – have not yet been built. These tickets will go on sale to the UK public in late spring 2012.’

Hundreds of tickets will go on sale next Friday when people are allowed to sell back their unwanted seats for the first time.

Those who ended up with excess tickets through the ballot system can re-sell them at cost price through the Locog website between January 6 and February 3.

Locog chief executive Paul Deighton said: ‘We asked people to buy tickets more than a year out from the Games and mindful of that, we promised that we would create this system for people to resell their tickets legally and safely.’

But he added: ‘I’m convinced that most people will want to hold on to their tickets.’

The website is the only legal way to re-sell unwanted purchases. Despite this, tickets have already been advertised by touts on websites including eBay for more than four times the price.

Among them were a pair of mid-range seats for the boxing finals worth £370 being sold for £1,036. A pair of tickets for a women’s volleyball match worth £150 were on offer for £650.

Organisers insisted that marketplace websites were keeping a close eye on touts and that London 2012 tickets were automatically removed before they could be sold.

The UK ticketing system has received much criticism, with even cycling gold medallist Bradley Wiggins branding the ballot system ‘a shambles’.

When the remaining 1.3million tickets are released in the spring, organisers will abandon the controversial system in favour of a first-come-first-serve Ticketmaster-style website.

They will also limit the number of events for which people can apply to stop companies and the super-rich from scooping up hundreds of tickets.

Mr Deighton said: ‘It is important that the first opportunity is granted to those who were unsuccessful in the first round.

‘We will also look at quite strict ticket number applications so that the million tickets get spread across the maximum number of people.’

Some fans, disenchanted by the ballot system, have turned to sellers outside the UK to secure seats at the most popular events.

One million tickets out of a total 8.8million have been allocated for the international market, but anyone in the EU may apply for them.

Dutch web designer Kevin Plasmans, 25, has created a computer software programme, called OS Site Tracker, which alerts sports fans when their favourite events go on sale anywhere in Europe. It costs £7.50 to subscribe.

He said: ‘Two-thirds of my customers are British and are using it after they couldn’t get tickets through their own country.’


Source
By Louise Eccles
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