Tickets for the London Olympics went on sale online yesterday, but a major technical error became apparent when it was discovered that payments could not be taken from credit cards with expiry dates after the start of August.

6.6 million tickets are available, with payment accepted by the Olympics' official sponsor Visa only, 10% of Visa cards will expire before the games cut-off point meaning those card holders cannot take part in the online ballot until the problem is fixed, which could take up to two weeks.