The Olympic Stadium where the rehearsal of the opening ceremony will take place

Hundreds of people queued in Barking and Dagenham to get their hands on free tickets to the technical rehearsal of the Olympic opening ceremony.

The council handed out a total 1,500 tickets to borough residents at Dagenham Library and Barking Learning Centre yesterday.

Many people left disappointed, however, as the supply ran out within an hour of the doors opening at 9am.

A few contacted the Post to say they believed it was unfair to offer up to six tickets per household.

Dagenham resident, Chris Roberts, who did manage to secure tickets, said: “In the area I live there are not many six people households but nearly everyone was asking for six tickets.

“Surely to be fair for everyone, people should have not just provided proof of address of being Barking and Dagenham resident, but proof on amount of persons living in the home.”

A council spokeswoman said: “The allocation of six per household was thought to be the optimum number due to the large number of residences in the borough with extended families.

“However during the later stages when it became clear that there were not enough tickets, we began to restrict them to three per household to make them go further.”

The technical rehearsal will take place at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford on Monday.