Olympics officials should give tickets for empty venues to Games fans, Labour said today.
Shadow Olympics minister Dame Tessa Jowell, who held the post in 2005 when Britain won the right to hold the Games, demanded urgent action to end the spectacle of empty seats which has blighted the first two days of sport.
Dame Tessa praised Locog chairman Lord Coe for announcing plans to make more seats available to frustrated fans angry at officials and sponsors who have not used their allocation.
Empty seats are pictured during the dressage event of the eventing competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games in Greenwich Park
She told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "We've got to get people into those seats today, tomorrow and the next day.
"I think the measures Seb Coe announced yesterday go quite a long way into that, together with the recycling of tickets for people who are already in the park.
"This is very important for the confidence of the British public."
Dame Tessa said the International Olympic Committee should work with Locog to unlock tickets for genuine fans eager to glimpse a slice of the action.
She added: "They own the Games, they have got to be part of the solution to this particular problem of the sporting federations and these accredited seats remaining empty.
"However, we can't wait for that medium-term resolution."
Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has said the empty seats are "very disappointing" and suggested they could be offered to members of the public.
He added: "I was at the Beijing Games, in 2008, and one of the lessons that we took away from that, is that full stadia create the best atmosphere, it's best for the athletes, it's more fun for the spectators, it's been an absolute priority.
"Locog are doing a full investigation into what happened, I think it was accredited seats that belonged to sponsors, but if they're not going to turn up, we want those tickets to be available for members of the public, because that creates the best atmosphere.
"We are looking at this very urgently at the moment."
