London 2012 Olympics day 3 news: Lost Wembley keys, Visa problems and military offered empty seats

Monday, July 30, 2012
7:46 AM

Members of the military are being asked to fill empty seats at Olympic venues.

With an investigation under way to discover why so many seats have so far been unfilled, organisers have offered troops the chance to watch the sports to prevent arenas looking bare.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has thanked London 2012 organisers.

An MoD spokesman said: “Locog has kindly offered servicemen and women working on venue security to make use of unutilised seating when they are off duty.”

In other Olympics news, football fans attending last night’s Team GB game at Wembley Stadium faced long queues after a problem with some tills.

They were told they could not pay by Visa, the only credit or debit card accepted at London 2012 venues, and must use cash.

Max Gore, 27, from Shepherd’s Bush, west London, said: “The queues were ridiculous. I didn’t have any cash and I couldn’t pay on card.

“I asked the person behind the bar if there were any cash machines and they said some had been taken out for the Olympics.”

A Visa spokesman said: “We understand that Wembley’s systems failed and therefore they were only accepting cash at the food and beverage kiosks.

“This cash-only decision was made by Wembley management and not Visa.

“We are working with the Wembley team to help them fix this as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, Scotland Yard has launched an investigation after a set of keys for the Wembley went missing.

Police checking security at the stadium lost the keys.

Locog stressed that the keys were internal and that the relevant locks have now been changed.

The Met Police is not treating the incident as criminal.

Sports fans attending venues today should enjoy less rain and more sun after yesterday’s changeable conditions.

For Olympic events in the London area there is likely to be a lot of dry weather with spells of sunshine.