Coe hails launch of Olympics tickets as glitch hits applicants

Organisers insisted there was “no glitch” with the ticketing website after some sports fans could not finish their orders.

The tickets cover 26 sports over 645 sessions and at 34 competition venues, with prices ranging from £20 to £2,012.

It is not a first-come, first-served system and there is a six-week period in which to apply. Ballots will be held for the most popular events.

However, those with Visa cards which expire before the end of August found the website would not process their orders yesterday.

London 2012 said the website and ticketing guide clearly states that in order to process your application, Visa cards must expire no earlier than August 2011.

This is because while people are applying now for tickets, payment will only be taken between May 10 and June 10 and cards will need to be valid during this period.

Visa is the only way to pay online for the 6.6 million tickets. London 2012 said those affected could still make their choices of events they want to see but cannot currently finish the process online.

A spokesman said: “It is being sorted. It is an issue with Visa rather than the website or our systems.”

Lord Coe described it as a “momentous moment” for everyone at London 2012, which must raise £2bn from the private sector to stage the Games.

The process came as red-faced officials at official Olympic timekeeper Omega confirmed the countdown clock has stopped only a day after it was unveiled in Trafalgar Square.

The clock was the centrepiece of celebrations to mark 500 days to go to the 2012 Games, which it counts down in days, hours, minutes and seconds.

A statement from the company read: “We are obviously very disappointed that the clock has suffered this technical issue. We are currently looking into why this happened.”