Nearly a year after traders were forced to abandon their stalls at a deserted Olympic market some are considering taking legal action to recoup their losses.

Stallholders claim they lost up to £27,000 each when the market in Marshall Road, Leyton, attracted few customers over the course of the Olympic Games.

This is despite their claim that they were told around 40,000 people would pass the market on their way to Olympic events, which encouraged them to pay up to £16,200 to sell their food there.

The council did not include the route on leaflets distributed to visitors, which were then scrapped midway through the Games.

But the authority and its contractors, Skateco and North London Business (NLB), blame each other for the market’s failure but all three are now offering traders compensation.

But Nameem Akhtar, 46, of East Ham, who lost £22,000 through the venture, is furious that the total compensation being offered amounts to just 35 per cent of the rental cost.

He paid £14,000 to rent a pitch at the market and so would get just £4,900 if he settles.

The father-of-two, paying off a bank loan to cover his losses by working overtime at his job at Stansted Airport, said some of the 14 traders want to reject the offer and collectively take legal action.

He said: “It’s not enough. I lost a huge amount and so did the others. Some of us want to take legal action but we can’t afford a solicitor unless everyone agrees.

“I’ve been left in debt with barely enough money to pay the bills. There was so much food wastage but we won’t even get our whole rent back if we agree to this.”

The Liberal Democrats have renewed their call for the Labour-controlled council to put pressure on NLB and Skateco to provide more compensation for the traders.

Group leader Bob Sullivan added: “Without a doubt it should be at least 50 per cent. Obviously there was a risk factor but the whole thing turned out to be a fiasco.”

A council spokesman said: “The stallholders’ claims are against NLB and Skateco, based on their joint marketing material . There is no stall holder claim against the council and the council has no liability to anyone.

“All the council did was to provide the opportunity for NLB to organise an Olympic food market and the relationship with the stallholders was with NLB and Skateco .

“The council of course has sympathy with the stallholders and for that reason it has participated in a global compromise initiative involving NLB and Skateco.

“That involvement is voluntary in an attempt to provide some compensation for the stallholders, even though the responsibility for that  lies with NLB and Skateco. So, there is no question of it taking responsibility for how the market turned out.”

The Guardian has approached Skateco and NLB for comment.