G4S solely to blame for Olympic contract failure
Blame for security firm G4S’s failure to provide adequate staffing levels during the London 2012 Olympics rests solely with the company itself, according to a report by MPs.
The Home Affair Select Committee said G4S gave “false reassurances” to LOCOG and the Home Office until a “very late stage in the process”.
It recommended G4S should waive its £57m management fee, to send “a strong signal to the British taxpayer”.
Keith Vaz, chair of the committee, labelled the contract fiasco, which saw an extra 4,700 military troops called in to make up for G4S’s shortfall, an “eleventh hour fiasco”.
“Far from being able to stage two games on two continents at the same time, as they recklessly boasted, G4S could not even stage one,” he said.
In a statement this morning, G4S said it had taken responsibility for the inability to deliver on the promised Olympic security contract, adding it was still in discussions with LOCOG over the full financial settlement.