Last Tuesday, 24 July, the Government Media Briefing – ‘Keep London Moving’ took place at the London Media Centre, with 4 speakers: Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics; James Brokenshire MP, Minister for Crime & Security, Home Office; Chris Allison, Assistant Commissioner, Metropolitan Police and Peter Hendy, Commissioner, Transport for London. They presented to the media the London’s readiness according to the themes of Security and Transport, with just few days before the opening of the Olympic Games.
Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt declared that the city will faced the busiest days with the arrival of athletes, officials and visitors. 4.000 athletes were already in London and more than 100 heads of state will arrive for the Opening Ceremony. He said: “It is worth trying to appreciate the scale of the challenges that we face to put on the Game”.
“This is the equivalent of hosting 26 world championships at the same time.” James Brokenshire explained the addition of 1200 troops in this final stage of the Security plan, but not for the G4S’s lack. He was also grateful to the 12.500 police officers and the 52 individual forces involved during the Olympic Games.
Minister added : “Thousands of Olympic athletes and sporting enthusiasts are converging on London, and we are prepared to welcome many more as they make their journey to the UK to be a part of this fantastic event.
Our focus is now on hosting a spectacular summer of sport and culture.” Chris Allison underlined the importance of partnership between the force involved, gave thanks to LOCOG, and focused on the Olympic torch relay route as an example of their great work. Police will divide operations in different matter such as Terrorism, Protest and Organized Crime.
He has the desire that sport will be at the centre of the stage during London 2012. At last Peter Hendy announced the opening of the Olympic Road Network and the Games Lanes, a network of roads of about 30 miles which will connect all of the Olympic venues and other key sites.
20 millions of extra underground journey by spectator will be during the Games, so people have to plan and have to use the website Getaheadofthegames.com which provide real time information.
More than 350 digital screens have been installed around stations to help manage the crowds. He also added that every day is different, Transport is not perfect and it going wrong sometimes.