2012 tickets will be reused to fill seats

London Olympics chiefs are proposing to "recycle" tickets to fill any empty seats at the Games.

They are planning to copy the scheme operated at the Wimbledon tennis championships where departing spectators hand over their day tickets for re-use.

Olympics minister Tessa Jowell said the ticket recycling scheme and planned public viewing areas would attract thousands more spectators to the Olympic Park, even if they had missed out in the initial ticket allocation.

The plans emerged amid criticism that many of the VIP seats in Beijing are empty. There are also concerns that the wider Olympic Green area in Beijing - the equivalent of London's Olympic park - has become a "no-man's land" for the general public.

Ms Jowell said: "London will be great fun. We will have live sites throughout London and people will be able to come into the (Olympic) park. The park will become a destination, even if you are not inside one of the venues.

"We will also have a system like Wimbledon where if people leave before the end then their tickets will go back into a pool to maximise spectator access. London is a city of fun, and there will be lots of fun."