Why can’t councils be more customer focussed?

I was ordering a skip to clear some rubbish today, but the skip company wouldn’t deliver unless I had a licence: “it’s the law”!

So I rang the council – not in Wales by the way – to get a licence and was told that there were 2 options. Either they could send me the forms and I’d get the licence in about 10 days, or I could go into the office and get it there and then.

What about doing it over the phone I asked. “No way, mate!” was the terse reply. It’s Wait or Visit, no other options.

This didn’t strike me as particularly customer or ratepayer friendly, especially as the council office was about 180 miles away and the rubbish to be collected was already on the pavement.

So try another tack – why not ask the skip company if they could get the licence. Well they said they would, if they could, but they can’t because that council does not allow skip firms to have a blanket licence for all customers.

All of this is barking mad and just shows how up their own importance some authorities are, whilst ignoring the common sense needs of those who fund their existence.

As for the cost of the licence – don’t take me there. A tax of £40 for every skip needed.