Locog and G4S Square Up To Each Other

Locog and G4S are squaring up for a battle over G4S's fees for the security cover they provided (or rather didn't provide) for the London 2012 Olympics.

Paul Deighton, CEO of Locog, told the Home Affairs Select Committee that Locog stopped payments to G4S on July 13, two days after G4S admitted that it would not be able to deliver the 10,400 security guards it had agreed to deploy.

The Telegraph reports that Locog has paid G4S £90M of a total £240M, and that the rest (according to Mr Deighton) is subject to negotiation.

Deighton said:

“We had absolutely clear and consistent reassurances from the senior management that they’d be able to deliver ... up until that fateful day on July 11. We shouldn’t over-complicate this. They just failed to deliver because their own processes broke down.”

Step forward Nick Buckles, CEO of G4S, who also appeared before the committee. Unsurprisingly he has a different view, and is of the opinion that G4S should be paid in full:

“I’m not going to sit here and say we did a great job, but we delivered a significant proportion of the contract. I expect them to pay us in line with the terms of the contract.”

The contract would make fascinating reading. However, I doubt that we will ever be able to read the contract as it is shrouded in secrecy.

As I have stated before:

"This is of course what happens when a major project/event is not run in an open transparent manner, and is not subject to scrutiny by independent professionals acting in the interests of the taxpayer."

The hapless taxpayer will end up footing the bill for the largess and incompetence of Locog and G4S.

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Locog Bans Box Hill News

Locog will not allow a village magazine to be sold on Box Hill during this month's cycle races, because the publication is not an official London 2012 sponsor.

The Box Hill News, a 40p news magazine run by volunteers, wanted to publish a special Olympics-themed edition to be sold on the weekend of the cycling races, July 28 and 29.

Locog insist only event sponsors can trade along the route.

Corporate greed at its worst!

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Lord Coe Trending on Twitter

Lord Coe has made rather a fool of himself and exposed the Olympics to even more ridicule and contempt (if that were possible), by stating on Radio 4 this morning that spectators would not be allowed to wear clothing with logos of non sponsoring organisations (eg a Pepsi T-shirts are banned).

Suffice to say his comments went down like a lead balloon, and "Lord Coe" is currently trending on Twitter as he and the Games are being subjected to derisive abuse and ridicule.

The furore has prompted Locog (an organisation that has not covered itself in glory) to issue a hasty retraction, saying that people can wear what they like and claiming Coe was confusing "spectators" with those who work at the Games.

All very well, except that Locog have also publicly stated (on their list of banned items) the following:

"Any objects or clothing bearing political statements or overt commercial identification intended for ‘ambush marketing’"

The phrase "clusterfuck" springs to mind!

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Locog's Chickens Come Home To Roost

It has emerged that Locog, the organisers of London 2012, encouraged G4S to keep wages for security staff as low as possible.

Security guards have been offered £8.50 an hour to work at the Olympic venues, which is below the market rate of about £10 an hour.

This pressure on G4S by Locog is somewhat "ironic" given that the government and Locog said publicly that security staff should be paid £10 an hour, so that enough staff were recruited in time.

Locog's chickens have come well and truly home to roost!

The BBC reports that G4S was "incentivised" (ie pressured) in the contract (which was renegotiated and enhanced in December) to keep costs down in order to maximise profits.

Unsurprisingly Margaret Hodge, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, has said that it raises "serious questions" about Locog's management of the contract.

Quite!

I will therefore repeat what I have said before:

1 This is what happens when a major project/event is not run in an open transparent manner, and is not subject to scrutiny by independent professionals acting in the interests of the taxpayer.

2 As an experienced FCA and fraud investigator I recommend that a full independent audit be conducted of the tendering process, the contract, Locog and G4S operations pertaining to their work for the Games.

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

The G4S Locog Omnishambles Continues Apace

On the day that Nick Buckles the CEO of the hapless and hopeless G4S appears before the Home Affairs Slect Committee, to answer questions about G4S shambolic performance, Surrey Police Fed have said that out of an expected turnout of 300 G4S staff (promised at Box Hill) only 30 turned up.

Whilst everyone is justifiably crucifying G4S for this national disgrace, let us not forget the organisation that signed the contract with them in the first place and was allegedly mean to "manage" G4S.

Step forward Locog, which will soon find itself under the same degree of scrutiny as G4S.

Newsnight last night reported that an insider from Locog has stated that Locog failed to deal with the problems at G4S despite warnings over the last 18 months.

"G4S have been appalling."

He claimed that those in charge of Locog's security were "amateurish", and it was a mistake using one company to supply staff.

"It was the wrong strategy, to use only one company."

The insider who has worked in security for many years asserts that "at the top level" the management of security at Locog was "thoroughly amateurish and incompetent".

This is of course what happens when a major project/event is not run in an open transparent manner, and is not subject to scrutiny by independent professionals acting in the interests of the taxpayer.

As I recommended on Friday:

"As an experienced FCA and fraud investigator I recommend that if G4s, the government and Locog want to put taxpayers' minds at rest over the integrity of the contracts awarded for the Games, then a full independent audit be conducted of the tendering process, the contract and G4S operations pertaining to their work for the Games."

This recommendation naturally applies to Locog as well.

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

The G4S Clusterfuck - Staff Don't Speak Fluent English

Nick Buckles, chief executive of G4S, when challenged about whether those recruited by G4S even spoke fluent English:

"That is a difficult question to answer. 

They all have a right to work in the UK and have been vetted to very high standards."

When the question was repeated he admitted:

"I can't say categorically."

ROFLOL!

The G4S clusterfuck is the story that just keeps giving.

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

The G4S Debacle - The Next Steps

Unsurprisingly G4S, the security firm that failed the nation when the eyes of the world were watching, continues to remain in the headlines. The media and other interested parties are analysing its business and operations with a fine tooth comb, something maybe the government and Locog should have done before signing the Olympics contract?

The Telegraph reports that confidential Home Office documents show that G4S has had its fee for managing civilian security staff for the Games rise from £7.3M to £60M.

The fee the company takes for running its Olympic office has risen more than 10 times faster than its spending on recruitment.

"Almost £34 million of the increase is for the G4S “programme management office” overseeing the security operation. By contrast, the firm’s recruitment spending has increased by only £2.8 million.

The company told ITV Tonight that the contract was subject to “extensive negotiation to ensure value for money” and that there were caps on any profit made. G4S said it had been “absolutely transparent” with Locog about its finances."

Whilst G4S may or may not be "absolutely transparent with Locog", as I noted yesterday, Locog and the government are not absolutely transparent with the taxpayer about this and other aspects of the Olympics.

As an experienced FCA and fraud investigator I recommend that if G4s, the government and Locog want to put taxpayers' minds at rest over the integrity of the contracts awarded for the Games, then a full independent audit be conducted of the tendering process, the contract and G4S operations pertaining to their work for the Games.

Only then will the fears and worries of the taxpayers be assuaged.

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

The Olympic Damp Squib

The Independent reports that the hoped for Olympics greedfest (hoped for by those with their snouts in the trough) has not materialised, and that the forthcoming Games look like turning into a financial damp squib.

"Hotel prices have been slashed, and thousands of tickets remain unsold. Olympic package holidays are being flogged at half price and flats near the stadium languish unrented. It looks like the Olympic bubble could well have burst. 

With a surplus of top-end tickets and VIP packages, ticketing and travel companies have slashed prices in a last-minute effort to fill spaces."

This comes as no surprise whatsoever, as in February I wrote:

"Locog have had to publicly humiliate themselves (not for the first time) by admitting that they had overestimated the number of rooms needed by officials, media, sponsors and assorted freeloaders for the coming games.

By how much did they overestimate the demand?

By a staggering 20%!

Locog have had to hand back 120,000 of the total 600,000 nights booked for the Olympics.

Needless to say this 20% reduction in bookings has given the greedy hotel industry a well deserved kick in the goolies.

Tour operators are now panicking and have warned that the newly available rooms will not boost visitor numbers.

For why?

- the vacancies have come too late
- tourists have been put off by the naked greed of the hotel operators
- tourists have been put off by the transport/travel chaos expected in London during the games

It is estimated that up to one million beds will go unsold over the Olympic period, costing the tourism industry around £3.5BN.

Now who was it who said that the Olympics would be a boon to tourism?

Oh yes, Locog!"

My advice to any tourist brave enough to endure the chaos of London during the Olympics is to negotiate hard with the hotels (who are desperate for business), don't let the greedy bastards get away with overcharging you for a shoddy room and lousy service!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Olympics Ticket Touting Bonanza

In June 2010 I wrote the following:

"In a rather amusing development, the IOC has all but accused four (albeit unnamed) countries of touting tickets for the recent Vancouver Winter games.

National Olympic Committees (NOCs) receive a quota of tickets that they can sell to the public in their home country. However, some NOCs have been in the habit of passing the tickets on to touts for profit.

Gilbert Felli, an IOC director, has stated that four countries would be punished (they will receive a reduced ticket allocation for the London games) for the way in which the sales of their Vancouver allocation were handled."

Here we are some two year later in June 2012, and it appears that the International Olympics Committee (IOC) have yet to get their house in order; and that the illegal touting of tickets by Olympics nations, officials and authorised ticket distributors has become more widespread (or at least is now more prominently visible in the public domain).

The Telegraph reports that Olympic officials were selling tickets on the black market for up to 10 times their face value.

It is alleged Greek national Olympic committee President Spyros Caprolos claimed he successfully lobbied Locog chairman Lord Coe to give Greece a fresh batch of premium tickets to the Games on the pretext that demand in the country had outstripped expectations. Locog deny this allegation, which if true would be rather "ironic" given that in July 2011 Lord Coe made an appeal for Olympics grandees to return unwanted tickets so that UK residents could buy them.

Other allegations (that cover 54 countries) include:

- Serbia's official ticket reseller was prepared to sell 1,300 prime tickets for £80,000 to a Middle East buyer, and attempted to circumvent scrutiny from the IOC or Locog by falsifying information from 1,400 Serbian passports;

- China's official ticket reseller, Caissa, had purchased top-level seats to the Opening and Closing ceremonies, diving, gymnastics and athletics from the official UK hospitality reseller Thomas Cook, which it was prepared to sell on at inflated prices of more than £6,000 each;

- Cyprus and Israel’s ticket reseller was offering 525 seats at the best events for £66,000;

- The Lithuanian ticket reseller was willing to sell all of the country’s remaining tickets to a Middle East buyer; and

- An executive from one major ticket reseller in multiple countries, Cartan Tours, advised a prospective buyer to set up a company in one of the 40 territories in which he has the right to sell tickets.

The Telegraph now reports that in the wake of this expose, the IOC is trying to buy time and will approach a major audit/law firm to conduct a review of the failings.

Why didn't the IOC take decisive action to improve its procedures after the Vancouver touting scandal reported in June 2010?

As I have noted many times before, the Olympics are not about sport but about money!
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Locog Reneges On Another Promise

Locog has reneged on yet another promise, and has decreed that it will charge up to £15 for 30,000 tickets for prime vantage points for the Olympics cycling event at Box Hill and up to £15 for 3,500 tickets for the start and finish area of the time trial at Hampton Court Palace.

Locog had previously promised that the admission would be free.

Additionally, smelling more money to be made, Locog will sell about 6,000 tickets at £10 each over the last three days to watch a large television screen on Henman Hill at Wimbledon. There will be no tennis on the outside courts on those days.

Locog are offering these "new" tickets for sale on 23 May.

However, the Telegraph reports that these are in fact a sop "to fend off criticism from nearly a million applicants who will again fail to secure any tickets in the next round of sales which start on Friday".

This Friday will see the sale of 928,000 tickets.

Ticketmaster executive Chris Edmonds has warned that the expected demand will create a slow computer system, that could take 20 minutes to process a payment:

“People will have to have patience."

Which roughly translated means:

"In order to maximise our profits we didn't invest in a system that can handle the load, tough luck!"

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

A Farking Waste of Money - The £5K Sandcastle

Congratulations to Locog for coming up with new ways of wasting money on the London 2012 Olympics.

This time they took four days and spent £5K on building a 13ft-high sandcastle on Weymouth beach, to mark the 100 day countdown to the Olympics.

Unfortunately, those of you wishing to go and see the sandcastle will be sorely disappointed. Once the requisite PR pictures were taken, the sandcastle was demolished.

For why?

Locog and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council decreed that it was a health and safety hazard. Therefore, instead of hiring a security company to guard it, they hired a mechanical digger to destroy it.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Locog Not Backing Britain!

Following the furore over recently published evidence that some Olympics merchandise manufactured in China was produced using child labour, Sebastian Coe (Chairman of Locog) is quoted by Procurement Leaders:

“We place a high priority on environmental, social and ethical issues when securing goods and services. As soon as we were made aware of the Playfair 2012 report, we instructed our independent monitor to carry out a comprehensive investigation and review. The outcome of this will be made public as soon as it is concluded.

We have taken a lead in ethical sourcing and supply chain management but there is always more to do and we are committed to making a real difference to workers’ lives and creating a valuable legacy that we can share.”

That's fine, but could not all of this been avoided had Locog not instead sourced their supplies of Olympics tat from UK based companies instead of from China?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Locog and The Cruel Engine of Disappointment

Locog continues to be given a well deserved public pillorying by those who are less than impressed with its lack of transparency over Olympic ticket sales.

The latest kicking comes from Boris Johnson. He has demanded greater transparency in the Olympic Games ticketing process, and has dubbed the ticket system run by Locog “the cruel engine of disappointment.”

Locog continue to refuse to publish details until the tickets have been sold, by which time of course the horse will have well and truly bolted!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

The Olympics White Elephant

The white elephant of the London Olympics, ie the stadium, will cost the hard pressed British taxpayer a further £2M on top of the current Olympics "budget" of £12BN.

For why?

It seems that the stadium is not up to Premier League standards, and that the pitch will need to be ripped up (it doesn't have under-soil heating) after the games and replaced at a cost of £2M.

Locog et al keep banging on about the "legacy" of the games.

For sure there will be a legacy, specifically:

- one very large white elephant (the stadium), and
- a large bill (currently estimated at around £12BN plus)

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Locog Loses Its Grip

The Telegraph reports that, despite the past hype pressurising people to rush to buy them, there are in fact around 4 million unsold tickets for the London Olympics.

Locog don't appear to be on top of things, as they have admitted that they are still working out last minute seating plans at venues.

Quote:

"We simply do not have a full picture to present at the moment."

Locog will release the 4 million unsold tickets in April, of which 1 million cover most sports and the opening and closing ceremonies.

Unsurprisingly, some people who were pushed into buying tickets for lesser events (because the hype implied that the main events had all been sold out) are more than a little aggrieved at having been taken for a ride.

To add insult to injury, in the money making spirit of the Games, Locog are now attempting to charge people for lining the streets to watch the cycling event at Box Hill!

Previous assurances (which Locog deny ever making), that the event was free, have been swept aside in the spirit of mammon.

London Assembly’s economic development committee chair Baroness Doocey is quite rightly less than impressed with Locog, re charging for watching the cycling she said it would be "dreadful and most regrettable".

The Olympics are about money, not sport!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Locog's Lack of Transparency

The ongoing controversy over Locog's handling of Olympics ticket sales (eg as highlighted in the recent Channel 4 Dispatches "Olympics Tickets for Sale") won't die down.

Unsurprisingly, The London Assembly’s Economy, Culture and Sport Committee has accused Locog of hiding behind its legal status as a private company and claiming commercial confidentiality despite benefiting from significant taxpayer funds.

The Telegraph reports that the committee has demanded that Locog reveals details of the ticket sale operation, including how many tickets have been sold at each price point at each venue and the total allocation of sponsor tickets, by Feb 27.

A report prepared for the committee, Sold Out?, said:

“Our conclusion, with the Games just a few months away, is that Locog has not yet done enough to ensure the transparency of the ticketing process. 

Locog’s lack of openness raises the risk that public trust in the process will diminish, fuelling a sense among Londoners that the opportunity to attend an Olympic and Paralympic Games in their own city was never truly within their reach. 

Locog told the Committee it intended to make the distribution of tickets roughly equal between the different price points for each event. However, we have received no confirmation that this principle has been implemented. 

Locog cited both data protection rules and the need to maintain commercial confidentiality as reasons why the information would not be published until after the Games. We do not accept these arguments. 

We fail to see therefore how commercial confidentiality can reasonably be used as a justification for non-publication of information which is clearly in the public interest. 

There is now even less transparency than in Sydney: despite having now sold the vast majority of tickets for the Olympic Games, Locog still refuses to publish a breakdown of the number of tickets available, or sold, to the public for each session. 

There are legitimate concerns that the most popular events may have a disproportionate number of the highly-priced tickets, and so far Locog has done very little to dispel these fears.”

Despite having sold the majority of the tickets, Locog still refuses to publish a breakdown of the tickets available, tickets sold, or how many were available for each session.

Why?

The committee chairman, Dee Doocey, said:

“Locog’s legal status should not excuse them from the transparency and openness we expect in other areas of public life.

It is completely unacceptable that an organisation that only exists because of a huge investment of public money can hide behind its status as a private company to avoid questions it does not like.

Locog is putting public confidence at risk by refusing to provide a complete breakdown of how many tickets were available for each event.”

Why does Locog choose to remain so secretive, given that it receives money from the taxpayer, what it is it afraid of?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Olympics Tickets for Sale

Channel 4 broadcast a very interesting edition of Dispatches last night, which probed the reality behind the spin spewed forth by Locog about where tickets for the Olympics are really going.

Locog promised that 75% of the tickets would be "affordable and accessible" to ordinary people. However, not 75% of every kind of seat!

Additionally, for good measure, the programme also noted that those with money can buy access to the special Olympics road lanes (reserved for the "great and good" of the Olympics).

Quote:

"We've spent £9 billion (Editor's note: actually it's £12BN if you include running costs) paying for the London 2012 Olympics. 

The organisers say London 2012 will be an accessible and affordable Games, leaving a lasting sporting legacy. But 1.8 million British people applied for tickets in the public ballot - over a million applied for the 100 metres final alone - and the vast majority were disappointed. 

So who got the tickets and for what events? 

Antony Barnett investigates in this Dispatches Special."

As I have stated repeatedly, the Olympics are about money not sport!

Watch the programme in full via this link Olympics Tickets for Sale.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Locog Kicks Business In The Teeth Again!

Not content with awarding certain manufacturing contracts to China, Locog have decided to award the contract for printing 11 million Olympics tickets to Weldon, Williams & Lick of Fort William, Arkansas.

The tickets will then be air freighted over to the UK (there's "green thinking" for you!).

Locog appear to be run by unpatriotic cretins!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Deighton's Bonus Reviewed

The Telegraph reports that, as a result of the ongoing uproar over bonuses to directors of failing organisations, that the remuneration commission will determine if the complicated series of bonuses due to London organising committee (Locog) chief executive Paul Deighton will be maintained.

In theory Deighton could earn a £1M bonus, which he has already stated will go to charity.

The remuneration committee will also review the bonus of the previous chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority, now Network Rail chief Sir David Higgins.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Olympics Greed - Greedy Hoteliers Get Their Fingers Burned

In August last year I wrote the following:

"How "refreshing" to read that, despite the ever worsening global financial situation, the hoteliers of London intend to screw every last penny from visitors to London next year during the Olympics.

The Telegraph reports that London hotels intend to treat tourist as prostrate milch cows eg:

- A double room at the Sheraton Park Tower, in Knightsbridge, this month costs £209 a night. The price quoted for a stay in August next year is £605.

- A night at the West London, in Leicester Square, costs around £290 this August. The same room during the Games will cost just under £540.

- The Berjaya Hotel in Kensington, goes for broke and intends to increase some of its room rates by a factor of 10. Rates typically range from £89 to £199. For every day of the Olympics, the price is £999 a night.

As noted many time before on this site, the Olympics are not about sport but are in fact about money.

Given the ongoing financial turmoil, it is to be hoped that these greedy hoteliers get their fingers well and truly burned for their naked opportunism."

I am therefore very amused to see that those hotel operators who thought that they would make a quick buck out of the London Olympics have had their fingers well and truly burned.

Locog have had to publicly humiliate themselves (not for the first time) by admitting that they had overestimated the number of rooms needed by officials, media, sponsors and assorted freeloaders for the coming games.

By how much did they overestimate the demand?

By a staggering 20%!

Locog have had to hand back 120,000 of the total 600,000 nights booked for the Olympics.

Needless to say this 20% reduction in bookings has given the greedy hotel industry a well deserved kick in the goolies.


Tour operators are now panicking and have warned that the newly available rooms will not boost visitor numbers.

For why?

- the vacancies have come too late
- tourists have been put off by the naked greed of the hotel operators
- tourists have been put off by the transport/travel chaos expected in London during the games

It is estimated that up to one million beds will go unsold over the Olympic period, costing the tourism industry around £3.5BN.

Now who was it who said that the Olympics would be a boon to tourism?

Oh yes, Locog!

My advice to any tourist brave enough to endure the chaos of London during the Olympics is to negotiate hard with the hotels (who are desperate for business), don't let the greedy bastards get away with overcharging you for a shoddy room and lousy service!


Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"