London 2012 and Thomas Cook Corporate VIPs

An issue sure to raise the ire of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) is the selling of corporate VIP road lanes by Thomas Cook Travel for £20,000 per person. Under LOCOG rules, Thomas Cook is allowed to use the VIP lanes itself since it is a hospitality organization supporting the Games, but the company is not allowed to provide access to the lanes for its clients. LOCOG has already weighed in, stating that any selling of access rights to the VIP lanes would be investigated. A spokesperson for Thomas Cook acknowledges that the company is trying to keep the issue quiet, most likely to keep any controversy to a minimum. Too late, however. Common sense suggests that if you state publicly that you are trying to keep an issue quiet then you are not actually keeping the issue quiet.