• 'Second-class citizens': Wheelchair user's fury at Paralympics over seating

    Courtesy Beth Davis-Hofbauer

    Beth Davis-Hofbauer is seen with her baby, Amelia. Davis-Hofbauer created a petition on Change.org after she was told that wheelchair users could be accompanied by only one other person while attending events at the Paralympics.

    By Ian Johnston, NBC News

    LONDON -- A disabled mother has begun a campaign that has attracted thousands of supporters after she was told she could not sit with her family at the 2012 Paralympic Games because she was in a wheelchair.

    Beth Davis-Hofbauer, who runs a company that makes craft boxes for children, raised a petition calling on the Games organizers, LOCOG, to change what she had been told was its ticketing policy, which allowed only one person to accompany someone in a wheelchair. At 12:45 p.m. ET Friday, the petition had 33,847 signatures.

    LOCOG then issued a statement saying this had never been its policy, and Davis-Hofbauer said a LOCOG official told her that improperly trained staff had made a mistake.


    But, despite being told she now will be able to sit with her family, she vowed to keep on campaigning because she has been contacted by other people with similar complaints.

    Davis-Hofbauer, of Fareham, Hampshire, England, said she had tried to get tickets for her, her husband Edward, her autistic son Milo, 4, and daughter Amelia, 19 months, for a cycling event.

    When told they would not be able to sit together, she then asked about tickets for the athletics, swimming and basketball, but to no avail.

    People being treated 'really badly'
    Davis-Hofbauer, who uses a wheelchair due to illness, said she needed her husband to be beside her as he is her caretaker, and the children could not be expected to sit by themselves. She offered to pay full price for the children, and have them sit on their laps, but she said that idea was rejected by the ticket-line operator.

    “I felt like the crap on their shoe to be honest, and very guilty because I felt it’s my fault -- because I’m ill and I’m in a wheelchair, my children cannot go,” Davis-Hofbauer said.

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    After setting up the petition, she said she was contacted by 11 or 12 people who said they had received “exactly the same kind of treatment,” and had heard reports of more.

    "There are people still being treated really badly by them, being ignored by them, being treated like second-class citizens,” Davis-Hofbauer said.

    “We disabled people shouldn’t really have families -- we forget that,” she added sarcastically.

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    She said she had now been told the family would be able to sit together in the cycling velodrome, but said she would continue to campaign on the issue.

    “I think they thought if they sold me tickets I would shut up, but I actually do care about other people so I’m not going to shut up," she said.

    'Ironic'
    Davis-Hofbauer said stadiums generally should do more to enable wheelchair users to be treated like ordinary sports fans. But she added it was “ironic” that there was a problem with the Paralympic Games. “It makes it sound even worse,” she said.

    A LOCOG spokesperson emailed a statement that reads: “it is not our policy that wheelchair users can only be accompanied by one other person when attending the Games.” 

    Read more about the Olympics from NBC News

    “We designed our venues such that accessible seating will be located around the new venues, at different price points so that wheelchair users can sit with their friends and families rather than in one single designated area, and we included a companion seat in the cost of a ticket for a wheelchair space,” the statement added.

    NBC News asked LOCOG to comment specifically on the case, whether other people had made complaints and what was being done about them.

    In response, a LOCOG spokeswoman said in an email that, "We have been able to sort a number of customers out, we will always try to help but with less than 2 weeks to the Games it comes down to a question of availability."

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  • Military drafted in to fill empty seats at London Olympics

    Ivan Alvarado / Reuters

    Spectators sit among empty seats during the men's Group A volleyball match between Britain and Bulgaria at the London 2012 Olympic Games on Sunday.

    By Ian Johnston, NBC News

    LONDON - Britain was forced to bring in military personnel at short notice to provide security for the London Olympics -- and has now done the same to help fill thousands of empty seats at several venues despite the massive public demand for tickets.

    Many ordinary people who applied for tickets -- in what was essentially a lottery – missed out and there were numerous complaints about the allocation process.

    But the first day saw rows of empty seats at events including swimming, dressage, tennis, gymnastics and volleyball -- according to reports in The Guardian and Telegraph newspapers -- to the outrage of many, including U.K. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

    Hunt said the sight of so many empty seats was "very disappointing," according to ITV News. "I was at the Beijing Games, in 2008, and one of the lessons that we took away from that, is that full stadia create the best atmosphere, it's best for the athletes, it's more fun for the spectators, it's been an absolute priority," he added.


    London 2012 organizers LOCOG said it was looking into the issue, saying it appeared many of the empty seats were in "accredited seating areas," which are reserved for members of the "Olympic family," such as officials, athletes, their family and friends, journalists, and some corporate sponsors.

    Slideshow: Venues for 2012 London Olympic Games

    Oda / Getty Images

    From Wimbledon to Wembley Stadium to The Dome, a look at the venues for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

    Launch slideshow

    At the daily briefing Sunday, LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe said most venues were "stuffed to the gunnels," but admitted some of the "tens of thousands" of Olympic family members had either not turned up -- on the morning after the Opening Ceremony and associated parties -- or had only gone for a short while before moving on somewhere else.

    There was laughter as he was asked about the logistics of "drafting in the army" to fill seats.

    "We won't be cancelling leave," Coe quipped, saying military personnel and others, such as local teachers and students, were simply asked if they wanted to see events when there were unfilled seats. Tickets were also being sold to the public, he said.

    Coe, who said 75 percent of tickets went to the public, said he did not expect the situation to continue.

    Will Mott/@wmottITV

    This picture of empty seats at the swimming heats, for which there had been very high demand for tickets, was posted on Twitter by ITV News producer Will Mott.

    "I'm pretty sure this is not going to be an issue that we are going to be talking about in three to four days' time," he said, explaining accredited ticket holders would still be "figuring out" what their duties involved, transport arrangements and other logistical issues this early in the Games.

    "I do take it seriously. Where we possibly can, we will get people into those seats where and when they are not being used," Coe added.

    Twitter was abuzz with pictures of empty seats and criticism of the large areas without spectators at the affected events.

    Sally Bercow, wife of the speaker of the House of Commons in the U.K. parliament, said in a message on Twitter that she was “loving” the Games, but added she was “so cross at all the empty seats. Sort it out FGS! So unfair for all of us who wanted to go :-/”

    'How dare they?'
    Comedian Jenny Eclair ‏was equally annoyed. “I've seen enough empty seats in my life without watching the Olympics - tragic waste - how dare they?” she tweeted.

    And former British newspaper editor and CNN broadcaster Piers Morgan tweeted that “These empty corporate sponsor seats at swimming etc are a total bloody disgrace. Sort it out, Lord Coe.”

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    The Guardian said there were an estimated 500 empty seats at the swimming heats featuring Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte; more than 1,000 at the gymnastics morning section, which was supposed to be sold out; and more than 3,500 at the volleyball.

    The Telegraph’s report about the issue had more than 1,000 comments from readers.

    “I was at the volleyball last night in Earls Court. Virtually all the prime seats right in front of the court were empty. An absolute disgrace and extremely unfair to the competitors who would surely appreciate a crowd of supportive fans to cheer them on,” one reader, kafkander, wrote.

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    “The time to fix it is now. Simply issue a decree that if people are not in their seats by 45 mins before event start time, the seats will be re-let at cut price cash on the door fees … I would have liked to have gone but couldnt get tickets and/or was disenchanted by all the reports of the Pre Olympic ticket scandals and outrageous pricing,” another, whitevanman, said.

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