London 2012: Olympic ticket sale targets unsuccessful bidders

Around 900,000 tickets for the London Olympics, including men's 100m final tickets, have gone on sale with priority given to unsuccessful bidders.

As of 11:00 BST on Friday, some 20,000 people now have 31 hours' exclusive access to purchase up to four tickets for a single event.

A million other unsuccessful applicants can then buy tickets from 13-17 May.

Some 70,000 general tickets for the Olympic Park will also be made available to this group from 17 May.

And from 23 May, unsold Olympic tickets of all varieties will be released for sale to the general public.

People attempting to purchase the latest release of tickets tweeted the BBC about their experiences. George Paton ‏tweeted: "@BBC2012: Anyone had success with today's Olympic ticket sale so far? The website is not working."

And @Sportsister tweeted: "half an hour of trying and the site still not working .... Not third time lucky so far! It just does nothing."

But Locog denied the site had crashed, adding that feedback from users had so far been positive.

Seb Coe, chairman of Games organisers Locog, said: "We know thousands of sports fans were disappointed when they missed out in the initial sales period because of the massive demand for tickets.

"We promised we would prioritise these fans when we released the contingency tickets, which is exactly what we are doing."

The online ticketing system came in for criticism after it crashed under high demand, leaving potential buyers frustrated at long delays.

In some cases, the system may have led buyers to believe they had been successful in their application, only to find out by email in June 2011 that they had failed.

The first priority group of 20,000 people are those who applied in the ballot and then the second chance sale but missed out in the latter, despite applying for apparently available tickets.

People in this group were contacted by Locog via email on Tuesday 8 May.

The 20,000 people contacted will now be able to select from any event, including the opening and closing ceremonies, although organisers warn only limited tickets are available.

But Olympic Park tickets will not be part of the sale window for this group.

Fans will be able to apply for up to four tickets for one event only.

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From Sunday 13 May, one million people who missed out in the first ballot will have five days to buy tickets. Different tickets will be available from 11:00 each day, as follows:

Tickets that are not sold each day will be carried forward for sale the next day. Once fans are successful they will be unable to buy any more tickets in the exclusive five-day period.

Unsold tickets for the Paralympic Games are also set to go on sale from 11:00 BST on 21 May, with further details yet to be announced.

And Locog has said it is releasing new tickets for sale from 29 May, to "help more people get to the Games". These tickets are:

Organisers have confirmed there will be a "babes in arms policy" during the Games, which means babies aged 12 months or under will be allowed into all London 2012 venues without a ticket - as long as they are securely strapped to a parent or carer.

But the policy will not apply to events held at Wembley Stadium, St James' Park, Old Trafford and North Greenwich Arena, where licensing rules require everyone to have a ticket.

Are you trying to buy London Olympic Games tickets? Have you had any difficulties? Please send us your comments and experiences.

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