SIR – I was very disappointed with the response of David Moorcroft, West Midlands Olympic Committee regional chairman, when he responded to a question on BBC’s regional news on Friday, May 25, as to why many people in Worcester missed the torch relay.

He said: “The people of Worcester must have been confused.”

I find this highly offensive when many of the spectators involved had conscientiously read the official Olympic Torch Relay in Worcester publication.

This showed specific times and locations, which appeared highly organised and precise but in reality were carried out with appalling accuracy.

As a teacher from a Worcester primary school who walked with 26 10-yearold pupils for one hour to reach the relay point on an uncomfortably warm afternoon two hours after they should have gone home from school, it was absolutely devastating for the children to miss the relay because the decision had been made to start walking further down the road than planned.

This was a once-in-alifetime opportunity for many thousands of people to see the Olympic Torch and to have this taken away was diabolical.

The children were extremely upset and had to be comforted after this extreme disappointment.

The Worcester information leaflet relating to the relay said that it would “travel along the… route at walking pace.”

The said route was from the A38 Worcester park and ride, along Droitwich Road, Barbourne Road etc.

In actual fact, the relay didn’t start until near the Coombs Road/Bilford Road junction.

Obviously, the priority was to reach the cricket ground as close to the specified time as possible, with no regard for the multitude of people lining the route to greet the torch on reaching Worcester.

I would like our children, the future Olympians of our nation, to know that this was a dreadful miscalculation and that the organisers are really sorry that so many people were disappointed on Thursday, May 24, in Worcester.

J A KIMBERLIN
Pershore