Croydon Council efficiency
Last year I was in the position of having to sort out my student loan, which involved filling in a load of ridiculously long and complicated forms. I couldn't use the ones my school were giving out, as they were supplied by a different Council, so I had to trek to the Council offices and get my own form. It turns out the only thing that is different is the address on the envelope they give you separate to the form.

My mother asked me, as I was going, if I could ask for a holder for her parking permit, as she had got a new car but could not move the windscreen permit holder across to the new car. I arrived at the Council offices reception to find a large room full of metal seats, all screwed down, and a complex system whereby a visitor was required to take a paper ticket with a number on for each service that was required. When the number on the ticket came up on screen, the visitor was directed to a desk to talk to a person. I was given a ticket for education, I waited for around half an hour, my number came up. I spoke to a woman who gave me a form.

I went back to the original 'welcome' desk and got a second ticket, this time for 'parking'. I waited for around another half hour, before being directed to the 'parking' desk, which happened to be the same woman I'd seen before about 'education'. I asked her for a parking permit holder and she scraped around in some very untidy drawers and under piles of forms and finally advised me to go to the Post Office and ask, as she had run out.

Great service from the Council. Incidentally, there is never a queue if you want to talk about something nice and middle class, like Planning or Environment, but the queue for the homeless is estimated at 2 hours, while the workers for Planning and Environment have a cup of coffee and a chat and enjoy doing fuck all.
( lrjlo, Fri 27 Jul 2007, 1:13, Reply)