The Editor, Sir:

I write to record my disappointment with the seating assignment at Kensington for the Cricket World Cup 2007. When the sale of tickets was launched in early 2006, the LOC informed the public that they were unable to make seat assignments at that time and had, therefore, to sell tickets by categories. Category 1 being the best seats, category 2 next best followed by category 3. The party stand had its own character. Pretty much they asked the public to trust them and make purchases based on that information.

I am one of thosepeople who trusted the LOC and in good faith purchased a number of category 2 tickets including warm-up, Super Eights and finals tickets. I am now discovering that the seats assigned to me are all bleachers seats. I was annoyed when I went to the 3Ws Oval and found I had a bleachers seat. I thought that the organisers must have run out of money and hence were unable to afford covers for the seats. Of course I could not have imagined that the same situation would exist at Kensington.

More troubling

What is even more troubling is despite a lot of effort on my part, I was unable to find anyone in authority at Kensington to address my concern. I must say that the staff were generally polite and understanding there was one particular woman who was very pompous and rude. She said to me: "Sir, we have no bleachers tickets at this Oval - you have a perfectly good seat." In other words, shut up and be glad we have not only let you in here but also given you a seat. So as at the 3Ws, I left without watching the game.

It appears to me that the organisers would have known that the design of the new Kensington Oval included bleachers seats. That being the case, these seats should have been in a clearly identified category. It is dishonest of them to have sold tickets knowing that the intention was to assign bleachers seats without first advising the purchaser.

Ambush marketing

I remember very well that the LOC spent a number of media hours discussing the issue of 'ambush marketing'. Much was made of the large number of lawsuits following the South Africa World Cup. I wonder if any of them considered the possibility that there might be equal numbers of lawsuits following this World Cup because of the false advertising, lies and deceit.

Dr. Keith Mitchell of Grenada was reported to have said that the legacy of this World Cup would be the strengthening of ties between the Caribbean islands. When I contemplate the myriad problems - the low turn-outs, better seats now being sold for US$25 than are assigned to people who purchased a year ago for US$75, non-performing concessions, the lies and deceit on the part of the organisers - I wonder whether the real legacy will not be a wedge of anger and resentment among our Caribbean peoples. The fallout from this World Cup will cut very deeply.

I am, etc.,

D. GRAY

gray@caribsurf.com