‘Torch relay left us flat’ (From Basingstoke Gazette)

‘Torch relay left us flat’

12:30pm Thursday 19th July 2012 in Letters

Sir.–On returning from waiting for more than two hours to see the Olympic torch procession pass through London Street to Winchester Road, I felt that I had to say how upset and disappointed I was at the way the crowd were handled just a few minutes before the torchbearer reached the change-over point along this part of the route.
The crowd were waiting in orderly fashion behind the barriers when suddenly those waiting past the traffic lights down Victoria Road – where there were no barriers – were allowed to surge forward to about 10 rows deep, blocking the view of those patient people, including myself, who had been
waiting far longer behind the barriers that were erected.
My argument is where were the supposedly-called “crowd management” people you saw walking about when you needed them – nowhere.
On asking the police to hold these people back, we (the crowd) got no response so what was meant to be a momentous occasion turned out to be a total disaster for the many people, including small children, who had been waiting to see the procession and saw nothing.
I am sure very many angry people returned home from what should have been a momentous occasion. As I am a pensioner, I feel I will not have the opportunity to see this event take place again in Great Britain, so thank you to those thoughtless people who ruined what should have been a great day.
–Mrs J Peberdy,
St Johns Piece,
Oakley.
 

Sir.–I must say that I am very disappointed with the Olympic Torch Relay that I witnessed in Basingstoke.
I was full of expectation after the previous sites I had seen on TV. After waiting about two hours, and enjoying the crowds, the street acts and, of course, the excited children, there was a real buzz in the air. Unfortunately, when the torch arrived, the guy ran by in a blink, and there was not even time to get a decent photo, leaving everyone around me muttering: ‘Is that it?’
I can’t help feeling that it was a big PR stunt – something to show the world and nothing to do with letting the people really get involved, except to keep the commercial aspect of it well oiled. Perhaps though, I’m just a crusty old cynic.
–Malcolm Paine,
Address withheld.