When the Downlands Precinct ceiling collapsed over the summer, I called the Council's emergency line on a Saturday morning. I was unable to get through after pressing the right option which left me feeling very frustrated.
I immediately raised this with Council officers and was told that if you stay on the line you will be transferred but this can take a while and to the general public this is very confusing and not user friendly. Any caller would reasonably think all options were exhausted and hang up.
I am grateful to have got the text on the Council's website amended to: "If you believe that people are at serious risk of an imminent major structural failure out of hours (between 4pm and 9am, at the weekend or on a public holiday), call our emergency number: 020 8726 6000. Please stay on the line until you are asked to hold on to be transferred to the Councils out of hours emergency service. This could up to one minute."
At the same time, the Council are looking how make changes to make the whole service more user friendly and have been assured that things should change in a few weeks.
My thanks to Mike Hearsey, the Council's Principal Control Surveyor for pushing this for me and to other officers for working to act swiftly.
Cllr Samir Dwesar
