Spectators for the London Olympics in 2012 will be banned from travelling by car

Spectators for the London Olympics in 2012 will be banned from travelling by car and forced to use public transport, cycle or walk, it has emerged.

According to the Times, only a small number of disabled people will be permitted to park in close proximity to car exclusion zones at event venues in London, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff, Weymouth and Portland (Dorset).

The transport plan for the 2012 Olympics sees around 800,000 people amassing at venues on the busiest days, with personalised itineraries sent to attendees detailing how to arrive.

Plans for two giant park-and-ride sites on the M25 and M11 motorways are to be cancelled, the newspaper reports, and one lane in several key London routes will be reserved for some 80,000 members of the 'Olympic family' for around two months.

Dubbed 'Zil lanes' - after the lanes reserved for Politburo convoys in Moscow - these routes will be specifically for athletes, officials and media.

Talking to the Times, Hugh Sumner, the Olympic Delivery Authority transport director, said: "We have a very aggressive programme to make it the greenest games in modern times. We want to leave both a hard legacy in terms of infrastructure and a living legacy in the way people think about transport and about how they travel to sports and cultural events."

Mr Sumner added: "We want to accelerate the shift to public transport and cycling that we have seen in London in recent years.

"There will need to be traffic controls around competition venues. We will make it very plain to people that there isn't going to be parking."