If you can.
Christopher Hope writes:
David Blunkett has complained personally to Olympics organiser Lord Coe after he was refused a seat in the Paralympics stadium for the opening ceremony because he had his guide dog with him.
The former Labour home secretary wrote to Locog chairman Lord Coe after he was told to sit in a windy gantry, rather than the stadium, for the ceremony on Wednesday night because there was no room for his guide dog. In the letter, dated August 31, Mr Blunkett told how he had gone to the ceremony on Wednesday with Paul Potts, a non-executive director of Channel 4 which has the exclusive British television rights to broadcast the Games.
Christopher Hope writes:
David Blunkett has complained personally to Olympics organiser Lord Coe after he was refused a seat in the Paralympics stadium for the opening ceremony because he had his guide dog with him.
The former Labour home secretary wrote to Locog chairman Lord Coe after he was told to sit in a windy gantry, rather than the stadium, for the ceremony on Wednesday night because there was no room for his guide dog. In the letter, dated August 31, Mr Blunkett told how he had gone to the ceremony on Wednesday with Paul Potts, a non-executive director of Channel 4 which has the exclusive British television rights to broadcast the Games.
He was treated with
"courtesy and professionalism" when he entered the Olympic Park. But
on arriving at the stadium, he said “we were immediately turned away on the
grounds that I had my Guide Dog with me”. Mr Blunkett continued: “We pointed
out immediately that this was the Paralympics and that my name was on one of
the seats, with the clear understanding that it was likely that I would have
brought my dog. I chose not to have a hissy fit. I felt that this was not an
occasion to make an issue of the occurrence, not least because we were in the
proximity of the broadcast media operation. We were allocated moveable seats on
the gantry which whilst sufficing was clearly nowhere near as satisfactory as
sitting in the stadium for a variety of reasons, not least the way they were
exposed.”
Mr Blunkett said he was raising
the issue to ensure that he assured that the incident was "a totally isolated
occurrence". He said he wanted “all those involved [to] seek to find a
solution rather than impose a preconceived notion of what is or is not
possible. In that way genuine difficulties can be raised and addressed but with
the man or woman concerned, not laying down the law to them.”
A spokesman for Mr Blunkett said: “He is keen that the lessons should be learnt and that appropriate action taken rather than making this into a cause celebre. He does not believe this is about him, but rather about getting it right now and for the future for those who do not have the opportunity of raising these matters prominently or access to the media which he is able to use.”
A spokesman for Mr Blunkett said: “He is keen that the lessons should be learnt and that appropriate action taken rather than making this into a cause celebre. He does not believe this is about him, but rather about getting it right now and for the future for those who do not have the opportunity of raising these matters prominently or access to the media which he is able to use.”
A Locog spokesman said: "We
are aware of the issue and we are looking into the circumstances."
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