Remaining tickets across all 17 sports initially became available on May 12, only for numerous customers to find themselves unable to connect their calls, or successfully buy tickets online, leading to the whole process being suspended.

In a bid to reduce these problems, which also involved some callers being charged for purchases they were unable to make, the 50,000 remaining tickets will now be sold on a phased basis split over three days.

This process began today at 10am British Summer Time, with tickets for the three team sports and the two ceremonies, before tickets for athletics, badminton, squash and table tennis, along with any unsold tickets from today, go on sale at the same time tomorrow.

All remaining tickets will then go on sale at 10am on Friday (May 23), including those for the remaining sports of weightlifting, powerlifting, lawn bowls, rhythmic gymnastics, shooting, boxing, judo and wrestling.

There are currently no tickets available for diving, swimming, artistic gymnastics, triathlon and either track or mountain biking cycling events.

Glasgow 2014 said this afternoon queues on the ticketing website have been "minimal" despite high demand, with "thousands of customers" buying tickets.

"Our technical teams have been working around the clock to test and retest every component of the technical infrastructure supporting the ticketing website to ensure that customers have a much improved experience during the relaunch of the site", insisted Chris Edmonds, the chairman of the much maligned Official Ticketing Agency, Ticketmaster UK.

"We are of course expecting to witness very high levels of demand on the site each day this week, so would ask all customers to be patient, if they find themselves queuing.

"Our advice to everyone would be to refrain from refreshing their screens or opening multiple browsers.

"Please also check social media channels for all the latest updates.

"Our number one objective is to see as many tickets as possible reach fans and supporters as we can and help deliver what will undoubtedly be a successful and unforgettable Commonwealth Games."

Following similar problems ahead of London 2012, Ticketmaster's whole reputation as a provider for sporting events is at stake when the process reopens today ©Getty Images



Given the problems they had last week, with sales for the England 2015 Rugby World Cup as well as for Glasgow 2014, along with those experienced ahead of London 2012, any further delays will be a huge blow to Ticketmaster's reputation as a company capable of providing tickets for major sporting events.

But a view of general optimism has been presented by Glasgow 2014 chief executive David Grevemberg, as he insisted anticipation levels ahead of the Games remain as high as ever. 

"The enthusiasm for tickets so far has been huge and we are fully focussed on meeting that positive demand," he said.

"From today, we want to ensure that everyone who wants to be part of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games has the opportunity to do so.

"The phased approach to selling tickets will help us manage the demand, although we ask everyone for their patience at peak times on the website and freephone hotlines.

"We want the Games to be an exciting and positive experience for everyone involved from buying tickets to actually being part of the biggest sporting event in Scotland's history." 

Prices start at £15 ($25/€18) for adults and £7.50 ($13/€9) for under 16s and over 60s.

They can be purchased by clicking here, or by calling the ticket hotline on 0844 826 2014.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
May 2014: Glasgow 2014 "confident" problems rectified as announce phased tickets release
May 2014: Ticket sales for Glasgow 2014 to remain closed for five more days
May 2014: Glasgow 2014 admit unsuccessful customers charged "in error" as ticketing crisis continues
May 2014: "Urgent review" into Glasgow 2014 ticket fiasco, but could take days to fix
May 2014: Glasgow 2014 close website and hotline after "totally unacceptable" ticketing fiasco