By David Williams
28 September 2010
Customer service experts have raised doubts that essential public services such as transport, policing and healthcare could fail during the 2012 London Olympics, risking significant damage to the UK economy.
A survey published today shows that a third of customer service managers do not believe that public services have the capacity to deal with the extra demand that the games are expected to bring.
The 2012 Games, being paid for with a £9.3bn budget of public money, are expected to bring more than half a million visitors to the five Olympic boroughs in east London.
Jo Causon, chief executive of the Institute of Customer Services, which conducted the survey, said: ‘It is concerning that a relatively high proportion of customer service managers have limited confidence in public amenities.’
More than three-quarters of the 1,000 sample said that a ‘failure to deliver a quality experience’ would damage the UK’s reputation as holiday and business destination. Meanwhile 63% warn that public service failure during the games could cause long-term harm to the UK economy.
