'Bottleneck danger' brings cut in Olympic day tickets

Plans to offer tens of thousands of cheap "rover" tickets for the Olympic Park - capacity 250,000 - have had to be scaled back because of fears of overcrowding at the shopping mall that serves as the gateway to the Games.

The cutback has come because of unexpectedly high numbers of shoppers at Westfield's Stratford City
centre. Computer modelling of crowd flows since it opened a month ago has revealed a risk of a potentially dangerous bottleneck.

Seventy per cent of all Games ticket holders are expected to pass through the mall. Crowds equivalent to the population of Birmingham passed through in its first week, with some 220,000 on the first Saturday alone.

To create extra capacity during the Games, trees along avenues running through the centre will be removed.

Games organiser Locog has decided to cut back on park general access tickets, to be sold on the day at about £10, although tens of thousands will still be available. Holders will be able to watch the events on giant screens.