Nicholas Green Questions Decision to Give 2012 Olympics Contract to the US

The founder of a national digital print company has criticised the decision to allow a £16 million printing contract to go abroad.

In news that is reminiscent of Bombardier losing the £1.4 billion Thameslink contract to German company Siemens, the multi-million pound contract to print the tickets for the London 2012 Olympics has gone to the US-based firm Weldon, Williams & Lick of Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Printed.com founder Nicholas Green said, 'What a great shame that, following on from the recent news that 91% of London 2012 souvenirs are being made abroad, these tickets have now also been outsourced to another continent.'

The decision was made by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, after what LOCOG described as a 'thorough, competitive and open tender' process. Reports suggest that almost all of the 11 million tickets required for the Olympic and Paralympic Games will now be printed in the United States. They will then be shipped to the UK for distribution, with ticket holders paying a £6 delivery charge.

The Olympic Games, which will start on the 27th July, have long been held out as a hope for ailing GDP figures towards the end of 2012. British construction companies have benefited to the tune of £6 billion through contracts for its facilities, though there are wider questions around the effect to the economy of disruption to transport and services. The news of the ticket-printing contract coincides with new reports that the UK economy is broadly set to flat-line for the rest of the year.

Business leaders and union officials both within and outside the printing industry have slammed the loss of yet another significant contract, along with the jobs it potentially represents. Nicholas Green concluded, 'At a time when the British economy is struggling, this contract would have provided a much needed boost.'