THE row over empty seats at the Olympics refused to die off last night despite moves by the organising committee to improve the way tickets are distributed.
Gaps in the crowd were evident at yesterday's hottest event as British medal hopeful Tom Daley competed in the men's synchronised 10-metre platform final, and other venues were also seen to be at less than full capcity.
More than 3000 Olympics tickets from international sports federations were "put back in the pot" and were being sold to the public, Locog said, but the problems appear to stem from individual Olympic federations not using the tickets they are allocated automatically.
Organisers have scrambled to fill the seats with mainly soldiers and students, but gaps could also be seen at weightlifting, volleyball, canoeing, table tennis and fencing events.
They were mainly in the sections with the so-called "accredited" seats for the media, officials from international sports federations, other Olympic officials and their families and friends.
Shadow Olympics Minister Dame Tessa Jowell, who held the post in 2005 when Britain won the right to hold the Games, has demanded urgent action to end the issue which is fast becoming the story of the Games.
She said: "We've got to get people into those seats today, tomorrow and the next day.
"I think the measures Seb Coe announced yesterday go quite a long way into that, together with the recycling of tickets for people who are already in the park. This is very important for the confidence of the British public."
Around 50 seats previously classed as restricted view and unoccupied during the first two days of the badminton at Wembley Arena were filled by members of the RAF and Army security teams.
Apart from two other rows of restricted-view seats, the 4800-capacity venue has been close to full for all sessions.
Sir Clive Woodward, Team GB's deputy chef de mission, tried to downplay the issue, saying all Olympic Games struggle with ticketing problems.
He said : "I was in Beijing and, to put it in perspective, I was going to tennis matches and hockey matches in Beijing where there was nobody there."
Prime Minister David Cameron said he "totally shared the frustration" of spectators who failed to get tickets only to see hundreds of seats set aside for accredited officials remain empty as they did not show up.
Meanwhile, some 29 suspected ticket touts have been arrested since the start of the Olympic Games, police have said. Eleven people have been charged on suspicion of illegally reselling tickets for London 2012 events, according to Scotland Yard.
The suspects, aged between 30 and 57, are due to appear at various London magistrates' courts over the next three weeks.
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