London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill

Baroness Grey-Thompson Excerpts

Monday 3rd October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Grey-Thompson]

My Lords, I start by declaring my interests. I am a board member of Transport for London, vice-chair of the Athletes’ Committee of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and I am a Paralympian. I support the Bill, which I see as a necessary part of the progression of what is required to deliver a successful Games.

I have competed at five Paralympics, in four Olympic demonstration events and a number of world, European and Commonwealth games. I have seen what is perhaps best described as varying levels of competency in the events I have competed in. I am pleased to say that London 2012 is in a very good place.

The promise of the noble Lord, Lord Coe, to put athletes at the very heart of the Games is important, and some of the contents of the Bill will help to make that happen. The reputation of the Games, and therefore London and the UK, is based on many things that are not included in this Bill and will be sorted out elsewhere, such as the quality of the athletes’ food, their accommodation and the competition itself. The Bill includes two areas of interest to me: tickets and transport. These are extremely important non-competition factors, but they can have a huge impact on athletes’ performance.

First, in terms of tickets, it was a delight to see so much interest in the ticket sales of both the Olympics and Paralympics. In both cases there was unprecedented demand. Personally, I am very much looking forward to seeing Greco-Roman wrestling at the Olympics, and I wait to see whether I am successful in the Paralympic ballot. It is vital that the integrity of ticket sales is maintained, and I therefore strongly agree that there should be a greater penalty for those who do not observe that. There have been many stories over the years about the public—indeed, family members of competing athletes—being duped by illegal ticket sales. I am delighted that the organising committee has taken steps to ensure that friends and family of competing athletes at the London 2012 Games will be able to secure two tickets to see them in action from the first round right through to the finals. That is a real innovation. It is the first time that this is being offered at an Olympic and Paralympic Games, and we should be proud that London 2012 will be the first to deliver it. It is perhaps because the Olympics and Paralympics are such important worldwide events that some people will still seek to profit illegally from them. I support the penalty in Clause 3 being raised as I believe that it will be a significant deterrent. I welcome further discussion on the figure that will be set.

Transport is another area that will have significant impact on the wider perception of the Games. London is a busy city; we all recognise that. It is a strength of the London Games that the organisations involved in delivery are not pretending that, by some miracle, all road users not involved in the Games will somehow disappear. As much as possible needs to be done to ensure that the city keeps moving during the Games, when the eyes of billions will be upon us. In my life outside your Lordships’ House I am frequently asked why it is necessary to have an Olympic route network. I have competed at Games where, even if there was provision for a Games-time route network, there certainly was not much enforcement around it. Athletes, officials and the media need their transport to move efficiently through the city, as do spectators and people who have no involvement in the Games. From my personal experience, when I was in Atlanta in 1996 I had a free day and was going to watch a fellow team member compete. Because there were no appropriate checks and balances in place and no back-up system, when the bus I was travelling in got lost, athletes on that bus did not make it to the venue on time. The result was that they were scratched from the events and did not compete at those Games. Trying to support athletes whose whole careers have ultimately ended because of a bus journey was not a particularly pleasant place to be. Continuing publicity around the route networks is therefore important. There has already been much work done to explain Games time, what the atmosphere in the city will be like and suggestions for different ways of working. However, I am concerned that there are many misnomers relating to the route network, such as the hours of operation, who and what vehicles will be permitted to travel on it and the supposed chaos that it will cause rather than alleviate.

Finally, I ask the Minister to keep encouraging publicity and awareness around transport implications so that people can make informed decisions about how and when they travel. As we move closer to the Games, I believe that London 2012 will be something that our nation will be proud of and will perhaps, as the noble Lord, Lord Addington, suggested, give us a platform for other events such as the World Athletics Championships in 2017.