The Olympics arrived in London today as thousands of athletes and officials touched down and the first dedicated VIP lanes came into force.

Teams from 30 nations, including US, Australia, Italy, Russia and China, flew in and headed for the athletes’ village in Stratford which opened this morning.

There were a few early hitches. Baggage handlers at Heathrow lost three sets of sails belonging to the Australian team and a special Games lane on the M4 caused confusion among motorists.

Two teams got lost on the way from Heathrow to Stratford. A bus carrying Australian team officials took three hours to get to the village, taking in diversions via Buckingham Palace and West Ham.

The delay was caused because their driver, working as a volunteer for Games organisers Locog on his first trip across town, could not operate the satellite navigation system.