Olympic countdown chaos: clock stops amid ticket problems

Olympic organisers are investigating why the Olympic Clock on Trafalgar Square, which was launched amid much fanfare on Monday, stopped at 500 days, 7 hours, 6 minutes and 56 seconds.

Omega has released a statement apologising for the incident.

“We are obviously very disappointed. The Omega London 2012 countdown clock was developed by our experts and fully tested ahead of the launch in Trafalgar Square.

“We are currently looking into why this happened and expect to have the clock functioning as normal as soon as possible.”

“We are currently looking into why this happened and expect to have the clock functioning as normal as soon as possible.” – Omega spokesperson

It is the latest embarassment for Olympic organisers, after limitations of the online booking system were discovered just hours after Olympic tickets went on sale.

Channel 4 News Sports Reporter Keme Nzerem writes about the problems:

Decided which events you want to see? Check. Signed up for a London 2012 account? Check. Logged onto the website? VISA card at the ready? Check. Press enter… and then an inexplicable case of “computer says no”.

After all the hype, would-be Olympics watchers this morning were left fiddling with their mice when the official ticket site appeared to have rejected their applications. But there is, we’re told – a very good reason – the somewhat pre-internet age issue of not reading the small print.

Tucked away in the later stages of the application process, the website confirms that any VISA card due to expire before August won’t be accepted – because the transaction – which could run into thousands of pounds – won’t take place until early June.

LOCOG say they took a “conservative view” when they divined the credit card cut off point. They couldn’t tell me why a card that is about to run out is any less safe than a credit card several months away from expiring, as long as it’s valid when the transaction takes place.

LOCOG insist it’s not a glitch, and the “system is holding up beautifully” but they have now asked VISA to move the accepted expiry date forward.

Which all points to – if not a design fault – the benefit of hindsight, which is something Omega, the people behind the Olympic countdown clock, may be wishing they had too.

The Paralympic countdown clock – on the other face – is however still working. Omega are, they say, “obviously very disappointed” – but they don’t know what went wrong.