Mayor demands more transparency over Olympic ticket sales

The poll found that Ken Livingstone led 51-49, against current London Mayor Boris Johnson (Rex Features)

Boris Johnson yesterday demanded greater transparency in the Olympic Games' ticketing process, a system he dubbed "the cruel engine of disappointment".

The Mayor of London echoed calls made by the London Assembly in a highly critical report last week and said that he would raise the matter at the next meeting of the Olympic Board, of which he is a member.

"The whole country wants to see transparency," said Mr Johnson, above.

Locog, the committee chaired by Lord Coe which is responsible for staging the Games, has refused to publish information regarding ticket numbers and prices, only stating that it will meet the target of 75 per cent being made available to the public.

Locog has said it will release more detailed information once the sales process has been completed. Last week's London Assembly report points out that by that time, it will be too late to do anything about it. Not all tickets are equal and there is growing concern that only a few for showpiece events – such as track cycling the ceremonies and athletics finals – have been made available to the public.

A million more will become available in the final resale in April; among them are 40,000 athletics tickets, some of which are for the most sought-after sessions, such as the men's 100-metre final. But there will also be an exclusive 24-hour window for those people who last month were wrongly told they had been allocated tickets to the synchronised swimming and then had them removed.