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| Glasgow 2014: Games boss 'very sorry' over tickets fiasco | Glasgow 2014: Games boss 'very sorry' over tickets fiasco |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The chief executive of Glasgow 2014 said it is "totally unacceptable" that people had to wait up more than seven hours in an effort to obtain tickets. | |
| On Monday, organisers released an extra 100,000 tickets on a first come, first served basis, but the online system was unable to cope with demand. | |
| They were forced to close the site at midnight to investigate the problem. | They were forced to close the site at midnight to investigate the problem. |
| Chief executive David Grevemberg told BBC Radio: "We let a lot of people down which we are very sorry for." | Chief executive David Grevemberg told BBC Radio: "We let a lot of people down which we are very sorry for." |
| Speaking on the Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr Grevemberg said: "It was an incredibly frustrating and disappointing day yesterday. | |
| "It's just not in keeping with the experience we are trying to create with Glasgow 2014. To put it simply, the system just did not cope. | "It's just not in keeping with the experience we are trying to create with Glasgow 2014. To put it simply, the system just did not cope. |
| "Despite being fully tested, it just did not cope with the churn." | "Despite being fully tested, it just did not cope with the churn." |
| The tickets, for all 17 sports and the opening and closing ceremonies, went on sale at 10:00 on Monday. | |
| People reported errors and long waits on the ticket website and phone line. | |
| 'It is a farce' | |
| Peter Charlton told BBC Scotland said: "People do want to buy the tickets but at the same time, they do have a life to lead. There I am sitting there seven hours later and still waiting. | |
| "Quite bluntly, it is a farce." | |
| After waiting six and a half hours, Jane Waller managed to get two tickets for the gymnastics and one for the Velodrome. | |
| But as she was about to pay, she was put back into the queuing system. | |
| "I wasn't sure if I'd been charged or not so I ended up having to phone my credit card company," she said. | |
| "It's just a fiasco. I was really looking forward to telling my daughter I had tickets for the gymnastics but unfortunately I haven't now." | |
| Mr Grevemberg said: "People waiting seven hours is just not acceptable, or that people were not able to complete transactions. | |
| "We are taking this very seriously and are continuing to deal with it." | |
| He said that after closing down the site at midnight, selling began again at about 01:00. | |
| "Obviously demand was lower because it was the middle of the night but we have had positive indications this morning, but it is not problem free," he said. | |
| "Ultimately, we have tickets to sell and want those tickets to be sold." | |
| Mr Grevemberg said tens of thousands of tickets had been successfully sold. | |
| "We are asking people to be patient and bear with us," he added. |