Olympic Athletes Begin To Arrive In London

With 11 days until the start of the games, athletes and officials have begun to arrive at London’s Olympic Village.

Heathrow Airport is expecting its busiest day on record and on the main route out - the M4 - the first priority "Games Lane" is now in operation.

Work has also started at the lab that will conduct some 6,000 drugs tests.

Meanwhile, following news last week that 3,500 troops have had to be drafted in to plug gaps after private security firm G4S failed to recruit enough guards for the Games, it has emerged police have had to deploy extra officers from nine UK forces at short notice to help with security work for London 2012.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison said: "Whilst some of the activity police officers are undertaking was not anticipated, plans were put in place to allow us to do this.

"Forces are making sure they make the best use of their resources locally to do all they can to minimise the impact on local policing."

The forces involved include Dorset, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Northumbria, South Wales, Strathclyde, West Midlands, Thames Valley Police, and Greater Manchester Police.

Heathrow Airport is expecting to process as many as 236,955 passengers on Monday, which would surpass its previous record of 233,562 set on 31 July last year. This compares with 190,000 passengers through Heathrow on an average day.

Some 335 competitors are expected on Monday, as part of 1,027 so-called "Games Family" arrivals (including athletes and coaches) from more than 50 countries. Heathrow operator BAA expects the busiest day for arriving athletes to be 24 July.

(H)