So much for green Olympics - VIPs will be whisked around London in 4,000 BMWs

[richard]

London 2012 has been billed as the ‘greenest’ Olympic Games in history, with spectators urged to abandon their cars and embrace public transport.

But a row has erupted after it emerged that thousands of VIPs will travel to events in London this summer in a rather more luxurious style.

BMW is to ship 4,000 brand-new luxury vehicles in from Germany to escort dignitaries and officials in a move described as ‘lunatic’ by critics.

The enormous fleet will include more than 3,000 BMW 3 and 5 Series saloons. Parked end to end, this would equate to a ten-mile tailback.

However, traffic should not be a problem for the VIPs who will cruise along specially reserved ‘games lanes’ near the venues.

The Olympic vehicles will be shipped into Britain from BMW’s factories over the next six months. Jenny Jones, a member of the London Assembly for the Green Party, said: ‘Most of the athletes will be staying in the Olympic Village and won’t need to travel to events, so the BMWs are really for the politicians and dignitaries.

‘Four thousand vehicles seems lunatic when we have such a good public transport system. I can understand a few officials need secure transport but 4,000? Shipping new cars in from Germany is also extremely bad news for the environment.

‘I am sure there are many local car dealers which could have supplied vehicles.’

It is understood that at least 250 VIPs will be given their own designated BMW, complete with a personal chauffeur, to escort them from their Park Lane hotels to the Games.

Several thousand other officials, sponsors, dignitaries and athletes – known as the ‘Olympic family’ – will share the remaining pool of plush cars, worth up to £30,000 each.

Members of the public will be urged to walk or try to board crowded trains and buses.
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Caroline Pidgeon, who chairs the London Assembly Transport Committee, said the BMW fleet went against the ethos of the Games. She said: ‘As we were promised that the 2012 Games would be the greenest Olympics ever to take place, only electric vehicles should have been considered.

‘Electric vehicles are not only quieter, but far less harmful to people’s lungs.

‘The 2012 Games should have been a big boost to the growth of electric vehicles in the UK, but instead we have vehicles which merely add to London’s serious air pollution.’ During the Games, 109 miles of roads called the Olympic Route Network will be managed to keep traffic flowing.

Traffic lights will give priority to cars travelling to the Olympic Park in East London, and access points and right-hand turns will be restricted.

But more than 30 miles of the network will include controversial ‘VIP-only’ lanes, enabling the ‘Olympic family’ in their new BMWs to be whisked through the city without being troubled by congestion.

BMW has donated the fleet as part of its sponsorship deal with London 2012. The firm will sell the cars after the Games on the second-hand market.

Despite heralding its green credentials, BMW has admitted that only 200 of the 4,000 vehicles will be electric cars. The transport deal – worth in total an estimated £150million – will also include 400 bicycles and an unknown number of motorcycles.

A BMW spokesman said: ‘We were chosen by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games based on our ability to provide a fleet of diverse vehicles which could meet the 120g/km CO2 emissions threshold as set by them.

‘However, a substantial proportion of the fleet will be the diesel models.

‘The fleet of vehicles which we will supply will achieve this threshold and the Games will provide the perfect opportunity for us to showcase our efficient diesel and electric vehicle technology.’


Source
By Louise Eccles & Ray Massey
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