Cars set to be banned for London 2012

The group charged with developing the infrastructure for the London 2012 Olympics is set to ban cars from all major event venues.

According to the Times, spectators will be forced to use public transport, walk or cycle to stadiums, as the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) aims to make the games the “greenest in modern times”.

The newspaper cites a preview of the transport plan for the games, which it says will only allow a small number of disabled people to park near the exclusion zones planned for venues including London, Newcastle and Cardiff.

In an interview with the Times, Hugh Sumner transport director at the ODA, said: “We want to leave both a hard legacy in terms of infrastructure and a living legacy in the way people think about transport and about how they travel to sports and cultural events.”

The newspaper also reports that two planned park-and-ride sites on the M25 and M11 motorways will be scrapped, while one lane on several key London routes will be set aside for athletes, journalists and Olympic officials.

Last month, in an effort to cut pollution ahead of next year’s games in China, the city of Beijing held a no car day.