LONDON 2012: Olympic organisers criticised for being too secretive over ticketing plans

By Sportsbeat staff

LONDON 2012's secrecy about ticketing arrangements is jeopardising public confidence in the Games, the London Assembly has warned.

CONTROVERSIAL: London 2012's ticketing procedures have been heavily criticised by fans and London Assembly members 

Organisers are refusing to provide a breakdown of how many tickets have been sold at what price for each event until all seats have been sold.

However, they insist a commitment that 75 percent of all tickets would be sold to the general public and 28 percent of the 8.8 million seats would cost less than £20 will be met.

As a private company, organising committee Locog is exempt from Freedom of Information requests but Dee Doocey, chairman of the Assembly's sports committee, believes they have a duty to provide more details considering the huge amount of public money being invested in the Games.

“It is completely unacceptable that an organisation that only exists because of a huge investment of public money can hide behind its status as a private company to avoid questions it does not like," she said. 

“For most people, the Games will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so it’s vital they have confidence in the ticketing process, particularly those who have missed out on tickets. 

"Locog is putting public confidence at risk by refusing to provide a complete breakdown of how many tickets were available for each event.

"We always knew that ticket allocation would be difficult and would disappoint some people. But if Locog had been open and transparent right from the start, a lot of public suspicion and anger could have been avoided.

“Locog's legal status should not excuse them from the transparency and openness we expect in other areas of public life.”

However, organisers insist the timeline for releasing a detailed ticketing breakdown cannot be changed.

"We are committed to providing a full breakdown of ticket sales, and believe the best time to do this is once we have completed the final sales process," said a spokeswoman.

© Sportsbeat 2012