10,000 London 2012 tickets on offer to armed forces
Army, Royal Navy and RAF personnel urged to sign up to see the Games.
London 2012 organisers have teamed up with the charity Tickets For Troops to offer members of the Armed Forces the chance to go next summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The London 2012 Ticketshare scheme will donate 10,000 tickets to Tickets For Troops. The scheme is being funded through a levy placed on London 2012 hospitality packages sold by Prestige Hospitality.
Through Ticketshare, a further 125,000 tickets are also being donated to London schoolchildren, 50,000 to schools across the UK and 5,000 each to the British Olympic Association, British Paralympic Association and Sport England.
Seb Coe, chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), said: “Through the sale of our Prestige tickets we are enabling the donation of tickets to a number of deserving causes - it would be unimaginable that we wouldn’t include our armed service personnel. I would urge those who are eligible to get on the Tickets For Troops website to register their details.”
Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson said the move was a “fitting tribute” to the hard work and dedication of service personnel. “As a former serviceman myself, I know that all the troops will be enjoy being part of the amazing event,” Mr Robertson added.
Since it was set up in 2009, Tickets For Troops has been donated more than 250,000 tickets and more than 90,000 troops have registered on the website.