Government and FIFA in Good PR Shocker

[Gilps]

Kiddies rescued from disappointment at hands of shady types from Slough

 

Ticket scam pupils can watch game

 

Hundreds of schoolchildren caught up in an alleged World Cup ticket fraud will get to watch a game after Government talks with Fifa, Downing Street said.

 

Nearly 400 disappointed pupils returned home from Germany after tickets for games on Saturday failed to turn up.

 

Pupils from Worcs, Dorset, Hants, Lincs and Oxfordshire were left ticketless.

 

Detectives in Berkshire said they had arrested a woman in her 40s at her home in Slough on Wednesday, on suspicion of obtaining money by deception.

 

Deal struck

 

The children, aged between 11 and 16, were on a £410-a-head tour and returned home on Monday.

 

Prime Minister Tony Blair originally hinted at helping the children to get tickets for another game during a phone-in on Radio Five Live on Monday, when he said it was "something we need to work on".

 

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) warned it would be difficult to source that many tickets, but on Wednesday Downing Street said personal talks between sports minister Richard Caborn and Fifa president Sepp Blatter had led to a deal being struck.

 

Fifa has offered the children free tickets for a quarter-final match, though it is not yet known which game the pupils will see, or if they will all go to the same match.

 

The spokesman said British Airways had agreed to fly most of the children to Germany, with arrangements being made for the rest.