The number of complaint calls to the Council almost doubled when the ill-fated new refuse collection schedules were introduced on 9th September.

Over 5500 residents tried to raise issues with the Council

Callers faced an average wait of nearly 3 minutes before being answered.

42% gave up waiting and hung up.

Commercial switchboard operators typically have a target “Time to Answer” of less than 20 seconds.

The problems were exacerbated last week by the failure of the Council to update its database to allow its web site to be used to report missed bins.

The Council has promised to take action to align staff resources to more closely match demand levels in the future.