Olympic ticketing 'too secretive'

The refusal of Olympics officials to provide information about how many tickets have been sold and at what price has jeopardised the public's confidence in the ticketing arrangements for the Games, according to the London Assembly.

The London Olympic Organising Committee (Locog) has never provided a detailed breakdown of who got what. Previously, it has indicated that about 28 per cent of the 8.8 million tickets would cost £20 or less, but has not shown how these tickets were spread across the events. As a private company, it is not obligated to provide information about ticket sales and is exempt from Freedom of Information requests.

Dee Doocey, chairman of the London Assembly's economy, culture and sport committee, said it was "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 added: "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."

The report also draws attention to a number of other ticketing questions, particularly how 10,000 synchronised swimming tickets were recently sold twice by accident.