Olympic Tickets: Brits 'Cheated' By Europe

A House of Lords member is writing to the International Olympic Committee over potential discrimination against British fans who have tried to buy Olympic tickets abroad.

Baroness Dee Doocey is lodging a complaint with IOC president Jacques Rogge over apparent unfairnesses in the manner in which UK citizens are treated by European ticket sellers.

Poland is charging Britons a £100 delivery fee if they buy tickets through their official seller - almost 10 times the amount continental Europeans are charged by the UK.

Sky News also has evidence suggesting the Finnish body selling tickets has been discriminating against applications made in English.

Baroness Doocey, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly spokesperson on the Olympics, told Sky News: "Why is it that in this country we obey the letter of the law and the rest of Europe tends to shrug their shoulders?

"I will be writing to Jacques Rogge of the International Olympic Committee demanding answers because this is disgraceful. I mean what are they going to do to enforce the law?

"We have been told when the Mayor was asked time and time again 'why can't we give priority to Londoners?' there's no way because you've got to allow everybody from the EU to have equal access. That seems fair enough but it can't be one rule for them and one rule for us".

The move comes after Sky News learned of the ticket seller SMT, from Finland, claiming to have no tickets left when in fact it was selling to people who requested in Finnish.

When a Sky News reporter posed as a customer and tried to purchase tickets in English, we were told there was a waiting list. But when the same request was made in Finnish, we were immediately emailed a list of all available tickets.

By proceeding in Finnish we were able to purchase tickets which are sold out in the UK, including the men's 4 x 100m final, a session featuring Jessica Ennis' heptathlon event and two tickets for the synchronised diving final, which could see Tom Daley win gold.

When we drew this to SMT's attention, a representative, Marjatta Laitine, responded: "I'm really sorry. There must be a mistake or something, I really can't tell."

When asked whether they would be investigating the error, she replied: "Of course, of course, of course we really will try to do it so that it won't happen again.

"I'm sorry but mistakes can happen. There is nothing I can do at the moment for you."

SMT claimed our complaint was the first of its kind, despite the London Organising Committee (Locog) raising the issue with them the day before.

While legally the matter is complicated, under European Competition Law no country in the EU can discriminate against applications based on their nationality.

Paul Stone, a partner in law firm Charles Russell, said; "The question is: is there some justification for your conduct so you can benefit from exemption?

"In most cases, there aren't going to be those kinds of benefits there that you won't be able to pardon for exemption.

"If there was a breach of the rules, then there are some pretty serious penalties."