LONDON — Tourists, be warned: The Olympics crush has begun in London — and so has the scramble for cold, hard cash in the pricey British capital.
Lines are getting longer at ATMs, visitors are in sticker shock over British prices and some befuddled tourists are wondering what currency to use. Stores in the Olympic Park only accept certain credit cards, and a British financial authority is even recommending that tourists make sure to bring British pounds with them.
“I’ve had people asking me whether they should pay in British pounds or euros,” said Alex Singer, a 27-year-old London cab driver. “I’ve also had Americans thinking that they can pay me in dollars.”
Britain — which uses pounds, not euros or dollars — had a test run ahead of the Olympics last month when some cash machines in the city ran dry over a four-day holiday.
During Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June to honor Queen Elizabeth II’s 60-year reign, dozens of ATMs across London ran out of cash as hundreds of thousands descended on the city to see fireworks, concerts and a flotilla of 1,000 boats on the Thames.
Some bars and restaurants even held on to driver’s licenses and other IDs as collateral so people could return with cash the next day to pay their bills.
An estimated 1 million extra visitors are expected in greater London during the Olympics, which runs July 27 through Aug. 12 — a two-week-plus extravaganza as opposed to the Jubilee weekend.
“It’s going to be chaos,” said Zelda Buchanan-Clark, a London teacher. “They’re going to have to carry extra money.”
The U.K.’s Payments Council, which works with banks and other cash providers, says assessments have been made to figure out how much cash is needed in London during this tourist surge and what denominations will be most useful.
But it has also advised tourists to withdraw cash before they get to London and to have backup plans in case their credit cards are rejected or local cash machines run dry.
An estimated 49 billion pounds ($77 billion) of cash is in circulation across the U.K., and there will be 1,700 cash machines near Olympic venues, the Payments Council said.
“We’ve been working to make sure that there is enough cash to meet demand,” said Michelle Whiteman, spokeswoman for the Payments Council. “But at any point in time, a cash machine may run out of cash. It’s just that it will be more noticeable during an event like this.”
Further complications may be in store for credit card users at the games. Since Visa holds an exclusive sponsorship for the London Olympics, people at Olympics venues will either have to use cash or Visa credit or debit cards, or go to kiosks where they can use other credit cards to purchase a special Visa prepaid card.
