'Not a good first impression, London': Olympic athletes 'lost' on road for four hours vent their fury on Twitter as bus struggles to get to Games vill

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Kerron Clement got a 'poor first impression of London' this morning, thanks to a lost bus driver

The opening of a special 'Olympic Lane' today was meant to help athletes and VIPs make the 45-minute journey from Heathrow Airport to Stratford in effortless ease.
Try telling that to US hurdler Kerron Clement, who tweeted his frustration this morning after he was left stranded in traffic for four hours when his bus driver got lost en route to the Olympic Village.
The 26-year-old, who won gold four years ago in Beijing, told his followers: 'Um, so we've been lost on the road for 4hrs. Not a good first impression London.'
The delay was the last thing Clement and his U.S. track and field teammates needed after an overnight transatlantic flight.

And the 4x400 metre hurdler followed his tweet with another, pleading with the driver to find the right route.
He wrote: 'Athletes are sleepy, hungry and need to pee. Could we get to the Olympic Village please.'
USA Track and Field confirmed the American athletes were heading to the Village just to pick up their accreditation before travelling to their pre-Games training camp in Birmingham.
A LOCOG spokesman refused to comment on the lost driver, but admitted some bus journeys took 'longer than planned.

Games Lane: An official Olympics vehicle (right) uses the first of the Olympic Route Network (ORN) roads, which came into operation on Monday on the M4 motorway heading into London from Berkshire

The organising committee said in a statement: 'It is day one of team arrivals. We have successfully completed a large number of bus journeys so far today, from the airport, to the village and the training venues. Whilst there may have been one or two journeys taking longer than planned, the vast majority were completed successfully.'
The athletes weren't the only Olympic VIPs who ran into trouble today.
A media shuttle bus also had difficulty finding its destination. The double decker, travelling from Russell Square to the Olympic Park in Stratford, pulled over 30 minutes into its journey.
The driver said: 'Sorry about this'.

Kerron Clement's frustrated tweets as his bus driver tries to find the Olympic Village

He then got out a map, before performing a U-turn and quickly getting back on the correct route.
A record number of visitors are expected to arrive into Heathrow today, as the first batch of athletes arrives for the Games.
Europe's largest airport says athletes from 50 nations will arrive in what it is describing as Britain's biggest peacetime transport challenge.
Some 236,955 passengers are expected to pass through the airport. The previous record of 233,562 was set in July 2011.

Arrivals: Today was the day Olympic athletes began arriving in London. Pictured is Francesca Clapcich of Italy's sailing squad

Heathrow has enlisted some 1,000 volunteers to meet and greet athletes, officials and media - hoping to put a bright face on the games. There was also an increased police presence, including sniffer dogs, along with the volunteers and the regular Heathrow staff.
People arriving at Heathrow's Terminal 4 said the immigration lines were not long. Authorities have stepped up the numbers of immigration officials to check passports, hoping to avoid the lines that have made headlines in recent weeks.

Arriving home: Members of Team GB arrive at Heathrow from foreign training camps, ready for the start of the Games

Team GB: Most Olympic athletes made it to Olympic Village in one piece, including the Great Britain football squad, led by coach Stuart Pearce and captain Ryan Giggs

The athletes' transport into central London was smoothed by the official opening of a 'Games Lane' along the M4 motorway. The special lane is open only to Olympic officials, VIPs and athletes.
The controversial move to reserve the lane appeared to have paid off as the M4 remained clear throughout Monday morning, largely because drivers chose other routes - fearing the road would be congested.
At a briefing in Westminster today, Transport for London commissioner Peter Hendy insisted arrivals for the Games were 'running smoothly', and expressed surprise about reports an athletes' bus got lost.


Volunteers at Heathrow's Olympics Welcome Desk wait for the influx of competitors

He said: 'If the drivers got lost it says nothing about the readiness of the city. I am very surprised to hear it took four hours. They'd be in Southend, never mind Stratford.'
And London mayor Boris Johnson joked: 'If they took four hours then they will have seen far more of the city than they might otherwise have done.'

source: dailymail