A TORCH bearer has described his frustration at not getting a ticket for Bournemouth Council’s Olympic party.

John Dickinson from Queens Park in Bournemouth carried the flame at Fortuneswell near Weymouth at 8.20am today.

The 68-year-old was nominated for his work with Bournemouth Amateur Boxing Club.

He was been involved with the club since 1961 and has given up his own time to help many troubled youngsters.

But he missed out on the ballot for the party being held by Bournemouth Pier tonight.

John said: “I am very annoyed about it. Why didn’t they keep some tickets back for the torchbearers?

“I have lived in Bournemouth my whole life and done voluntary work. I have been down to the town hall but they didn’t seem to know any answers.”

Jon Weaver, Bournemouth Council’s events manager: “We wanted to ensure that it was a fair process for everybody applying due to the high local demand.

“We felt that because the torchbearers have the honour and recognition of carrying the Olympic torch that they were already involved in and playing their part in this one-off, historic event.

“Therefore, we did not make a special allocation of tickets specifically for them.

“Some of the torchbearers will be running at the same time as the evening celebration event so therefore it would have been unfair to allocate tickets to some torchbearers and not others who couldn’t make it.”