Govt Splashes £750,000 On Olympics Tickets

The Government has spent nearly £750,000 on tickets for the London 2012 Olympics, Sky News can exclusively reveal.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has applied for and been allocated 8,846 tickets to the Games, a freedom of information request has shown.

Their allocation, which was previously withheld from the public, includes 213 tickets to the Opening Ceremony at a total price of £194,525.

Of this allocation the Government will have access to 40 of the most expensive tickets priced at £2,012.12.

They have also got 142 tickets to the closing ceremony, costing £71,490.

The department spent £33,085 on 256 athletics tickets and £26,600 on 410 beach volleyball tickets.

The DCMS allocation also includes sought after tickets for track cycling, with a total of 224 tickets to the Olympic Park velodrome sessions.

The tickets include the sprint and keirin finals in which Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton are hoping to take part. They spent £29,530 on diving tickets, including Tom Daley's 10-metre synchro and 10-metre platform event.

The large allocation will anger members of the public who have been left disappointed after failing to get tickets to the Games.

Some 1.9 million people applied for tickets and many missed out.

A total of 1.2 million people ended up with nothing, with only 700,000 - 36% - being successful.

However, the Government says the tickets, primarily paid for by the taxpayer, will benefit the British economy.

Jeremy Hunt , Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, told Sky News the tickets will be used to further British business interests.

"The first point to make is that this is less than 0.1% of all tickets and none of them are going to be given away to civil servants or politicians.

"A small number of those tickets will be made available to people who have been working hard on the project for the last five years or so but they have to buy those tickets at face value and because they're popular they will have to go into a ballot to get them."

The DCMS put bids in for tickets for all the Government. It is believed its allocation will be shared out across departments.

Many dignitaries, heads of state and business leaders across the world will fill some of the best seats at the opening and closing ceremonies, which will be used as a showcase for Britain.

A DCMS spokesman said: "Hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games next summer is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to showcase the UK to a massive international audience.

"We are determined to use this unique opportunity to maximise the economic benefits for the country."

The spokesman added: "As we have said before, there will be no free tickets for civil servants, and no tickets at all for the opening and closing ceremonies."

London 2012 must raise £2bn from the private sector to stage the Games.

People still hoping to go to buy tickets will get two more chances on a first-come, first-served basis.

All unsold Paralympic tickets, along with what remains of the Olympic football tickets, will go on sale in December. This will include some medal sessions and ceremonies.

Another online ticket release is set for April 2012. This will probably coincide with the big rush of people still trying to get a seat at the Games.

Up to another 1.3 million tickets may come up for sale. The exact number of tickets in this batch will also be influenced by the finalised seating and staging plans for the ceremonies which affect the amount of space which will be used.

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