RESIDENTS from Waltham Forest who carry the Olympic flame in London will have their £199 souvenir torch paid for them by the council.
Games organisers are charging torchbearers if they want to keep the metal frames the flame will be carried in.
But council leader Chris Robbins said in a statement: “To be honest it seems a bit rich to expect residents of an Olympic Host Borough to fork out so much money, especially when they’ve done some amazing things and got some very special stories to tell.
“Being a part of the Olympic Games is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"We hope that this gesture will be picked up by other London boroughs so that all of the capital’s torchbearers will be left with a brilliant memento from London 2012.”
Nineteen people aged between 11 and 72 will carry the flame through Leyton and Walthamstow on Saturday July 21 from 6.30pm, although only some of them are residents of the borough.
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