Olympic tickets-alert feed on Twitter reinstated

A Twitter feed helping people buy Olympic tickets for events that have empty seats has been reinstated.

The @2012TicketAlert was blocked on 2 August after changes to the official Olympic ticket website.

Adam Naisbitt's computer program checks the official site to see when tickets for events are released, and tweets about it.

Before the service was blocked, Mr Naisbitt said it had helped hundreds buy tickets to watch the Games.

But when Ticketmaster, the 2012 London Games' ticket agency, updated its website in a bid to stop touts snapping up seats and selling them for a profit, it made it impossible for third-party programs such as Mr Naisbitt's to access it.

Ticketmaster reinstated the Twitter feed three days later.

"Once Adam Naisbitt approached Ticketmaster and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and we were able to establish that the activity was legitimate, we discussed with him the best way to re-enable access without compromising the performance of the website or the experience of consumers," the agency told the BBC.

"We have now unrestricted @2012TicketAlert and we will continue to remain focused on ensuring that the London 2012 website can sell as many tickets as possible to get even more sports fans to the Games."

The Milton Keynes-based entrepreneur created the program after being frustrated by his attempts to find seats for the gymnastics event.

He said the official ticket site had been suggesting tickets had been available when they had all been sold.

He then designed a program that regularly checked the site to spot the most recent changes to it and revealed which events genuinely had seats available.

Mr Naisbitt could not be reached for comment after the return of the service.