Organisers of London’s Olympics (LOCOG) have launched a crackdown on ticket touts prior to the 2012 Games threatening to name and shame those caught.

It is a home grown problem which the United Kingdom has exported to other countries but Lord Sebastian Coe, Chairman of LOCOG, has vowed to stop it at the Games.

He told delegates from the 205 National Olympic Committees (NOC’s) gathered in Acapulco “it is very important that tickets do not find their way onto the black market or into the hands of ticket touts.”

“We will enforce this rigorously, so will the police and the media,” Coe said.  

His warning included NOC’s whose tickets sometimes end up in the wrong hands for a price.

Each NOC receives a ticket allocation and there have been cases in the past where those tickets have been sold on the black market. Tickets are numbered and therefore easy to trace.

Coe made it clear any organisation selling on the black market would be visited by the police and also named in the media.

London organisers announced their ticket prices this week and 60 million Brits have a chance to sign up for tickets and enter a ticket ballot next year.

It is all going swimmingly for London, the venues are well advanced, the volunteer program is up and running and there is a huge demand for tickets.

Mike Tancred in Acapulco
AOC