Last minute Olympics ticket rush

Harry Wallop 

The deadline to book seats for the London 2012 games is at 23.59 on Tuesday night.

According to the organising committee, many consumers have left it to the last moment to book their tickets, with four-times the number of people ordering tickets each day over the Bank Holiday weekend than in previous days.

It is expected an even greater number will book in the last few hours before the application process closes.

However, many consumers have expressed alarm that they have ended up potentially spending far too much on the tickets in the hope of securing just a couple of seats. Many have ordered far more than they can afford in the expectation that they will only get a fraction of what they asked for. or that they will be able to resell tickets through an official website.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) hopes to raise about £400 million of its target of £500 million from ticket sales by Tuesday night.

The money will be taken off consumers' credit cards between May 10 and June 10 this year, but they will not be notified until June 24 for which events they have actually secured tickets.

Yesterday a spokesman for The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games said that the resale website, the only legitimate channel through which people can resell tickets, will not be operating until next year.

This means that consumers who end up receiving more tickets than they can actually afford will have to pay interest on their credit cards at least eight months before being able to resell tickets. The only payment methods allowed, because Visa is a major sponsor, is a Visa credit card, a Visa debit card, cheque or postal order.

The average credit card annual interest rate, according to the Bank of England, is 18.84 per cent, which would mean that consumers' interest bill will be £50 million before they can recoup any money from over-ordered tickets next year.

Andy Walton, a writer, said he had applied for £1,250 worth of tickets. "It's once in a lifetime event and I've ordered more than I intend to actually go to. It worries me quite how much will be taken off my credit card.

"Ordering the tickets was very easy, but is still very much of a lottery as to which ones I will actually get, and where I will sit."

Julie Irwin, a children's author, who booked her tickets on Monday, said: "I'll be very excited if I get all of the £800 worth of tickets I've ordered, but I will have to think long and hard how I can afford them and if I need to borrow money from my Dad."

She added that it was "unfair" that Locog would be sitting on consumers' money for over a year, while spectators were paying credit card interest bills.

Consumer groups have expressed anxiety that Locog will be taking money off people's cards or cheques not only 14 months before the actual event, but also before consumers will find out if what events they are going to.

Matt Bath from Which?, the consumer watchdog, said: "People have to have the money in their bank accounts, because the money is taken from their account often many weeks before they even know what tickets they are going to win.

"I do worry that many families will be caught out. Organisers of other events up and down the country only take the money out of your bank account when they send out the tickets; that's standard practice. But the Olympics will be sitting on your money – causing many families to pay a lot of interest – for possibly a whole year before they send out the tickets.

"And there is no guarantee of being able to sell the tickets when the resale site actually gets up and running next year."
Telegraph