• Event cut to three hours as it is feared they will not cope with the huge crowds
• London 2012 tell MailOnline 'tough decision' taken to ensure that the 80,000 fans get home 
  
• Concerns that people will not be able to get the last Tube home at 1AM
• Organisers hope changes will help get people safely out of stadium at midnight without any dangerous rush

The security shambles that has engulfed London 2012 has now forced the £27million Opening Ceremony to be slashed by half an hour, it was revealed today.

Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle's spectacle has been cut to three hours to ensure the 80,000 fans in the Olympic Stadium do not get stranded and left unable get home on Friday, July 27.

The extravaganza was due to finish at 12.30am but will now end around midnight to allow people enough time to get on packed public transport.

Ongoing fears over security also means Games organisers want more time to get the huge crowd  safely out of the Olympic Stadium.

Plans: Danny Boyle, centre, with his model of the Olympic Opening Ceremony that will transform the stadium into a British country idyll - but its length has had to be slashed

For London 2012's much-anticipated Opening Ceremony, which will start at 9pm, the Olympic Stadium is to be transformed into a British rural idyll, complete with real cows, sheep and a horse-drawn plough.

But scenes have now been shortened and one bike stunt element has been scrapped completely to avoid misery for spectators coming to Stratford, east London for the event.

The stadium will be packed with 80,000 spectators, 16,000 athletes, 10,000 performers, 70 sheep, 12 horses, ten chickens, three cows, two goats and even dogs and geese.

One billion people around the world will be watching on television.

'The show has been cut because of fears that the checkpoints couldn't cope with the huge rush in and out of the stadium,' a London 2012 source told The Sun.

'It's not just crowds of fans, athletes and performers G4S and our soldiers will have to cope with  - it's dozens of live animals as well.

'All will have to be checked and searched before being allowed into the secure area. It's a huge logistical nightmare.'

A London 2012 spokesman told MailOnline: 'Performers are rehearsing sections and transitions to ensure they are as tight as possible. This is normal in any production, whether it be theatre or ceremonies.

'We need to make sure the show comes in on time to make sure spectators can get home on public transport, so we have taken the tough decision to cut a small stunt bike sequence of the show.

'We will be paying contracts in full and giving full credit in the programme. The show is set to finish between 12am and 12.30am.'

They denied that the decision was connected to the G4S security debacle.

It is yet another damning blow for security company G4S, who will be managing the crowd, after thousands of armed forces and police were brought in because they couldn't provide enough staff themselves.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2175205/G4S-chaos-strikes-O...