Unusually for me, I needed to be in the City on a Monday, so was forced to train it in yesterday. Pleased to say that it all went very smoothly and that there appeared to be more Olympic staff, Volunteers, Police and other support staff than Olympic visitors.
Our Head Office was also practically deserted and the journey home to Charlton after 6pm was just as straightforward. I believe they were expecting 50,000 leavers from Greenwich Park after 6pm, so maybe things hotted up at London Bridge a bit later?
Disappointing but pretty predictable that we are seeing empty seats at most venues. The largely empty VIP/Olympic Committee areas is an indictment on all of the bureaucrats and fat cats who obviously can't be bothered with the smaller events or the heats and who are, presumably, in London spending time shopping or otherwise enjoying themselves without bothering about the Olympics. I am afraid to say that the ludicrous LOCOG ticket sales plan is also to blame. Selling the majority of tickets randomly to those who could afford to write-off hundreds or even thousands of pounds in blind auctions was always going to mean that there would be plenty of empty seats at the less popular events as well-heeled ticket holders prioritised what they would see.
It's good to hear that LOCOG are acting to tackle the problem but the 3000 additional tickets released so far is a drop in the ocean and empty seats will now become a memory of these games. Own goal I'm afraid. The lesson should be learnt for the future when "fanatics" have to take greeter priority but I am dreaming here of course. Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Our Head Office was also practically deserted and the journey home to Charlton after 6pm was just as straightforward. I believe they were expecting 50,000 leavers from Greenwich Park after 6pm, so maybe things hotted up at London Bridge a bit later?
Disappointing but pretty predictable that we are seeing empty seats at most venues. The largely empty VIP/Olympic Committee areas is an indictment on all of the bureaucrats and fat cats who obviously can't be bothered with the smaller events or the heats and who are, presumably, in London spending time shopping or otherwise enjoying themselves without bothering about the Olympics. I am afraid to say that the ludicrous LOCOG ticket sales plan is also to blame. Selling the majority of tickets randomly to those who could afford to write-off hundreds or even thousands of pounds in blind auctions was always going to mean that there would be plenty of empty seats at the less popular events as well-heeled ticket holders prioritised what they would see.
It's good to hear that LOCOG are acting to tackle the problem but the 3000 additional tickets released so far is a drop in the ocean and empty seats will now become a memory of these games. Own goal I'm afraid. The lesson should be learnt for the future when "fanatics" have to take greeter priority but I am dreaming here of course. Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Dave,
ReplyDeleteI'ts been quiet in central London all week, with a LOT less people than usual. It seems as though they massivly overestimated how many would be travelling through the 'hubs'.
Did they not realise that it's the school holidays?
I fear it will be a lot worse for the paralympics, because that's when everyone's back to work, and my company hasn't really mentioned it!(I should know; I'm a train driver for a local rail company!)
As for the seat issue, we were there on Sunday at Wembley for the football, and it was obvious that the posh seats were empty.....