9:20am Friday 30th July 2010
Sir.–We paid our council tax recently. What a fiasco. Finding the usual door taped off, we went where directed, where we had to stand in a queue which was stretching outside (no rain, thank goodness).
When we got to the front of the queue, we were given a ticket and told to stand in another queue until our number was called. This we did, and when eventually we were called to one of the desks, we were told to go to the original paying window.
Arriving at the original place to pay our tax, two ‘officials’ were sitting doing nothing and when I asked what the problem was, one of them replied that “it was to speed up and make the system more efficient”.
Usual payment – walk in, join a small queue, pay, leave, job done by one pleasant person.
This payment – go to alternative building, wait in long queue, told to take a ticket and join another queue, go to desk to be told to go to original payment window, told by two bored ‘officials’ this was to make the system more efficient, paid tax to pleasant lady, then left. Job done by at least seven ‘officials’.
I thought we were having to make savings, not increase staff and waiting time!
–Thelma Woolcock, Chequers Road, Basingstoke.
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