‘One in 10 Olympics seats left empty’

On the first day of competition, Locog organizers said 67,000 failed to attend and on subsequent days the stay-aways amounted to 58,000 and 50,000, meaning the average no-show figure is nearly 60,000.

The astonishing daily figures will enrage British sports fans, thousands of whom are still trying desperately to buy seats online every evening.

They complain that the website is repeatedly crashing and that tickets remain unavailable despite what the site suggests.

Many of the stay-aways are VIPs who were given their tickets by sponsors – including for sold-out events such as swimming and gymnastics finals – but couldn’t’t be bothered to use them.

The figures confirmed the huge challenge faced by organizers over the next ten days to claw back unwanted tickets from overseas National Olympic Committees, officials and dignitaries so they can be resold to the public.

Organizers have rushed to reclaim and resell an extra 3,800 tickets on Monday and promised more would become available “day by day”.

The International Olympic Committee said it would be looking into ticketing arrangements at the Games.

“One of the things we want to look into is how we distribute tickets to our national Olympic committees”, said the IOC spokesman Mark Adams.

Margaret Hodge, Labour MP for Barking in East London, said: “This many unused tickets is shocking. If organizations are not going to use their tickets they should think about the people to whom it would mean an awful lot, and give them back and not be selfish.”

“We will be reviewing how the ticketing was handled after the Games and find out whose responsibility this was. The hunt for sponsors has been such a priority that ordinary people who feel really excited by the Games have not had a look in”, the Labour MP added.

The Games organizer Locog has claimed it was responding to embarrassing scenes this week – as pictures of half-empty stadiums beamed around the world.

It has already reduced the size of the accredited area to provide more seats to the public.

Some seats were initially handed out to children and army personnel, but even they could not fill the gaps.

MOL/JR/HE

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