2012 London Olympics organizers give 13,000 tickets to politicians after fans miss out

Jun 08, 2011 |

London

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2012 London Olympics

The organizers of the 2012 London Olympics have reportedly awarded 13,000 seats worth one million pounds to MPs, Whitehall bosses, council leaders and guests.

According to The Telegraph, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport has reserved 9,000 tickets for official guests, while London Mayor Boris Johnson will be able to allocate 2,000 seats to London officials and transport and emergency service employees.

It comes after reports that more than half of sports fans who applied for tickets to the event have been unsuccessful.

About 1.8 million people had made 20 million bids for the 6.6 million tickets available.

It was reported that some 55 per cent of applicants missed out completely in the public ballot.

Now, the dignitaries who were able to skip the ballot are facing demands to hand back their tickets.

Matthew Sinclair, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, demanded that councils “save money and hand tickets back to increase the chances for all”.

Dee Doocey, Liberal Democrat Olympic spokesperson at the London Assembly, added: “It is disgraceful that politicians and their staff should be getting special treatment.”

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