'2012 VIP tickets should be offered to the public' after ballot leaves people empty-handed

Politicians and councils came under pressure today to hand back thousands of VIP tickets to the Olympics to help some of the people left empty-handed in the ballot.

Up to 13,000 prime seats at the Games worth £1million have been reserved for the Government, City Hall, London councils and their guests.

Many of the tickets will be paid for out of the public purse with one borough agreeing to spend £4,000 of public cash for four seats for its mayor to attend the opening and closing ceremonies.

As the Standard revealed last month, about half of the 1.8million applicants have failed to get any tickets from the ballot.

Dee Doocey, Liberal Democrat Olympic spokeswoman at the London Assembly, said: "I think it's disgraceful that politicians and their staff should be getting special treatment without having to go through the ballot. There are some councils such as Merton that have spent £4,000 on a pair of tickets to the ceremonies and that is just wrong."

Matthew Sinclair of the Taxpayers' Alliance urged councils "to save money and hand tickets back to increase the chances for all".

Susie Cousins, 29, a cousin of Commonwealth Games silver medallist William Sharman, applied for £1,500 of tickets and failed to get any.

She said: "Having waited to find out I'm so disappointed I can't bear thinking about it. I just feel sick and so gutted."

The largest allocation will go to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, which is set to spend £750,000 on 9,000 tickets. Their guests will include UK business leaders, foreign dignitaries and departmental staff who will be attending the Games courtesy of the taxpayer.

Boris Johnson is in line for 2,000 tickets, which will be divided between City Hall, the Met, London Fire Brigade and Transport for London. London boroughs are entitled to 100 to 200 tickets though many, such as Ealing, have given them to deserving causes.

There are fears that the difficult application process run by Games organiser Locog will suppress demand when the second wave of ticket begins this month.

It is thought only the more expensive tickets remain for events in the Olympic Park such as basketball, handball, hockey and synchronised swimming.

However Locog also has to shift unpopular seats to team events such as football and volleyball to hit its £500million sales target. Those left empty-handed will be given first refusal on the remaining tickets on a first come first served basis.

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