London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill

Baroness Heyhoe Flint Excerpts

Monday 3rd October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Heyhoe Flint]

My Lords, I feel a little bit like the night watchman, batting at No. 13. I am more used to coming in at No. 3, she says immodestly. However, it is a pleasure to follow my noble friend Lord Clement-Jones on to the field of play, albeit he seems to be making a rather gloomy prediction.

The gratifying factor about the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill is that it is short and technical, but not too technical—more of a sprint than a marathon. These are nurturing amendments which allow for the filling out of the legislation in the spirit of the 2006 Act. At Second Reading of the Bill in the other place, the honourable Member for Croydon South, Richard Ottaway, said:

“If we get it right, it enhances perceptions; if we get it wrong, it is very dangerous”.—[Official Report, Commons, 28/4/2011; col. 401.]

The Bill and, indeed, the whole creation of our 2012 Games dream have received a full cross-party consensus. The amendments in the Bill before noble Lords should be accepted to enable the original commitment to legislation in the 2006 Act to have its full effect. It is part of our contract pledge to the IOC, and the lead runners in this mega-project deserve our fullest support. The Minister for Sport and the Olympics, the honourable Hugh Robertson, and his predecessor, the right honourable Member for Dulwich and West Norwood—I wonder whether there is an ORN going through in that direction—deserve our greatest support, as do all the myriad agencies involved, all seemingly having initials, such as OPLC, LOCOG, ODA and the BOA.

The right honourable Member for Dulwich and West Norwood, Tessa Jowell, Minister for the Olympics in the previous Administration, who is praised on all sides for her contribution to the whole 2012 Olympics and Paralympics dream from bid to almost fruition, when speaking of the three major amendments before us today, referred to the multitude of measures that have been put in place to address the complexity of the logistical planning. She also commented:

“It is not often in government that one is dealing with a project one knows will extend beyond a general election … beyond the interests of the governing parties at the time, and held in trust for the people of this country”.—[Official Report, Commons, 28/4/2011; col. 379.]

I feel no guilt in fully supporting the amendments before us, although in international sport I have not been an Olympian, just a humble cricketer, although cricket was in the 1900 Games in Paris, and England—also known as Devon and Somerset Wanderers—won gold by beating France, which of course is a very well known cricketing nation. I was not there at the time, contrary to popular belief.

The Government must do all that they can to achieve Royal Assent by the end of 2011 to enable appropriate vital communication to all agencies involved. Many noble Lords have mentioned the word communication. That is to all agencies involved: the ODA, the police, trading standards, advertising and street trading and local authorities. That vital communication brings to mind that well-known sporting cliche: “Fail to prepare? Then prepare to fail”.

I turn to the advertising and trading amendments. Because of the high profile of the 2012 Games, branding protection and preservation of intellectual property rights is vital to ensure that the Games are not overly commercialised. Rogue advertising and trading must be prevented to preserve the sanctity of the Games. Does that sanctity include airspace? There is a vision of light aircraft trailing banners behind them, for example—possibly with the noble Lord, Lord Pendry, as pilot, because at least that way he would be able to see the Games—and, on the ground, innocent athletes, officials and spectators displaying illegal branding on those freebie T-shirts handed out just as you are entering the special event zones.

In world cricket events, unsightly pieces of sticking plaster have had to be stuck over offending logos on pads and bats to avoid contravening legislation. It is vital to agree the practical amendments in the Bill to pre-empt and outlaw ambush marketing and, in marketing speak, to ensure clean venues and routes. The exclusivity of the main sponsors and commercial partners, who have contributed a vast £700 million to the Games, must be protected at all costs at all the 26 event zones. Beware even the rogue mascots, defined in the broad description of advertising activity.

Next, we deal with ticket touting. The global profile of the Games and the excessive ticket demand, as demonstrated when the initial 6.6 million tickets came on sale in March, may lead to organised criminal groups exploiting the system. The noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, and the noble Baroness, Lady Doocey, mentioned their qualms about LOCOG operating an official exchange system. Those qualms must be listened to, but let us remind everyone that the only official tickets for sale will come from official outlets. For criminal groups, the intention is there. The amendment under consideration states that the deterrent maximum penalty for the illegal touting of Olympic tickets must be raised from £5,000 to £20,000. One hopes that that is sufficient.

We are not here dealing with one ticket here and one ticket there; we are probably talking about huge volumes of illegal trafficking of tickets. We hope that we can calm the fears of noble Lords who have expressed their disquiet about the system. Ticket touting is a £10 billion worldwide criminal activity. Staging the Olympics and the Paralympics is like staging 26 world championships all at once. In Beijing, tickets were being touted at five times their face value. What a market this offers to those with criminal intention. Once again, the deterrent and the message must be communicated loud and clear, with regular repetition.

Several noble Lords mentioned traffic management. If you listen to any London taxi driver, you will be told in no uncertain terms how they fear the whole of the July, August and September period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Mind you, if you listen to any London taxi drivers in any day, month and year, you will probably get the same rumbles about traffic flow; and it is always the fault of the Government—and the Mayor of London, of course, whether that be of the Livingstone or Johnson dynasty. It is our responsibility, as a requirement of the host nation’s contract, to control official traffic flow, thus avoiding, as mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson, the horrors of the 1996 Games in Atlanta, when athletes and officials arrived late at various venues. Just imagine it when they say in London E13, “On your marks, get set… Oh, sorry, we’re still waiting for some athletes to appear”. For our 2012 Games, all arrangements must be the best to help put the “Great” back into “Britain”. The logistics are enormous for athletes, officials and spectators, and everything possible must be done. In-depth consultations have taken place, are continuing and will continue with Transport for London, highways agencies and various transport bodies that administer the livelihoods of HGV drivers and firms and taxi businesses.

Just compare the logistics of the 2012 Games with our last Olympics in 1948. In 1948, 59 nations participated; in 2012, 205 nations will participate. In 1948 there were 4,100 athletes; in 2012, there will be 14,700 athletes in the Olympics and Paralympics. The other week I read the words of 86 year-old Bill Nankeville, father of entertainer Bobby Davro, who was a 1500-metre finalist at Wembley in 1948. He wrote:

“During the Olympics, I was billeted in a Nissen hut at RAF Uxbridge”.

So he would have had little problem getting to Wembley Olympic Stadium. However, the 2012 Games athletes and officials have to be rocketed across London and the country to and from the Olympic Park in E12, where 180,000 spectators alone are expected daily. Furthermore, they are going to be spread among venues at Wembley, Horse Guards Parade, Earls Court, Egham to Eton Dorney, where the rowing takes place, Wimbledon and even Weymouth. I was delighted to read that Weymouth may have a new problem by the entry into the town, where they are going to have a hamburger junction. I do not know who might be sponsoring that.

The scale of the whole operation of the Olympics is enormous. Some 700,000 people—staff, athletes and audience—will attend daily at all the venues. The amendments under consideration will enable the ODA—on the Olympic route network only—and traffic authorities to make temporary traffic regulation orders purely for traffic management and Games purposes only. This must be done, and flexibility must be allowed within the regulations to cover even late changes to venues through special event traffic orders.

The London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill is well considered, sensible and practical to ensure that, wherever and however, we host the best Games ever. All the messages within the Bill need to be communicated with clarity to the general public and to the communities affected by the legislation, not just by one leaflet drop but by an incessant bombardment of high-powered communication by all forms of modern technology, not forgetting Twitter, of course. If you want to let the world know something in a matter of seconds, or even faster than Usain Bolt will be ripping down the track in the 100 metres final, this is a very convenient method of communication.

The Corinthian amateur approach to the 1948 Olympics is captured by the recent words of 91 year-old Dorothy Tyler, Britain’s high-jump silver medallist.

[Lord Higgins]

It was the high-jump.

[Baroness Heyhoe Flint]

It was the high-jump. I know that the noble Lord was there. He was saying, “Come on, Dorothy”. Dorothy Tyler said:

“We were staying in a pretty unpleasant hotel in Victoria. We only went training once to Motspur Park in the fortnight before the event”.

Compare that almost laid-back comment with the intensity and pressure of staging the 2012 Games and we all know why we must give the fullest support to the amendments in this Bill and the Bill as a whole. Let us echo the words of Dan Hunt, coach to Ed Clancy, Britain’s legendary gold medal-winning pursuit cyclist in Beijing:

“Unless we achieve the epitome of excellence we are disappointed”.

Paralympian Darren Kenny said, following Lance Armstrong’s mantra:

“Pain is temporary, failure is forever”.

Finally, the Olympic motto, “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, is very appropriate to these amendments—“citius”, faster: traffic-management; “altius”, higher: fines for ticket-touting; and “fortius”, strong: enforcement of advertising and trading regulations.