Gloucestershire County Council Omdömen 30

Title: Extremely Disappointed – Failed to Protect Me and My Children

I want to share my experience with all Gloucestershire services especially children’s services, local authority and police to warn others who may rely on their services.
As a survivor of domestic abuse and coercive control, I reached out for support and protection. Unfortunately, I was ignored, victim-blamed, and failed by their service.

Despite reporting serious abuse, including violence and ongoing risks to my children, no effective intervention was provided.
My abuser has continued to exert control over my life, and my children have been placed in situations that compromise their safety.

This experience has left me deeply frustrated and fearful, as the very system that should have supported me instead enabled my abuser.

I hope this review encourages others to seek independent advice and advocacy, and that the agency/author reflects seriously on their practices when dealing with survivors of abuse.

They will not collect our bins on or student accommodation site on commercial rd it’s been 8 weeks we have rang them for missed collections but fall on deaf ears they lied saying bin men have been an collected it we have cctv on site and clearly see they haven’t when asked about our collection dates each of the staff are saying different dates non of them have a clue Chantelle who I spoke to very rude and never call me back as told then tareem same no clue no records of us calling absolutely useless then told us we have to wait 10 days for a response and till then our bins are overflowing we have had many incidents with the bin men damaged and main key left outside the building resulting in our property being broken into list goes on they should be liable makes you wonder what they do with the money we pay £8 million gone missing wow with no justification

Gloucestershire Highways put a removal notice on my motorhome which was legally parked in Charlton Park Road Cheltenham. Two abandoned caravans were on the same road. They made assumptions that it was occupied following complaints from local residents. No due process was undertaken.
I have since had a sort of apology after a very hard process trying to contact these people. No contact details were on the notice so no way of defending yourself.
Just typical of the way councils work.

Gloucestershire Highways, using their vehicles to intimidate women outside their own homes. Hire straggly, black-haired louts to do the dirty work for them.

Gloucestershire County Council Pensions Department - abandon all hope ye who enter there.

I am now able to answer the age old question -"How many men does it take to repair a pothole". Based on the evidence seen in the High Street Prestbury it takes 6 men in three lorries. My observation showed one man working, three standing watching and two sitting in cab of their lorry.

Absolutely shocking inward-looking and self-serving organisation that does not bother to reply to correspondence and has a complaints policy that might as well be written on toilet paper. Seems to be full of employees that have no intention of making decisions in the public interest, but rather in the interests of what's easiest for them.

Unredeemable in every facet. Never once gotten better. Every year they get worse and worse. From buses to bins to literally everything.

The Highways Gloucester told everybody that the only access to an estate containing many elderly people would be closed for 3 weeks. This was a lie but it caused great panic. Old people would be missing essential health appointments. Their 'Stakeholder Department' lied to people about the closures. My own stepmother was denied essential care visits. The staff involved were cruel and callous in how they dealt with this .

Parked on a road with no signage and no road markings, got a parking ticket and turned out there was signage hidden in a tree half a mile away which I was supposed to have seen!
Trying to discuss this with them is a nightmare - perhaps their complaints policy is hidden in a tree too…

No stars would be more accurate. Shambolic!
No phones are ever answered. I have tried from the CEO down to the complaints dept and all just ring out.
Getting hold of anyone is nigh on impossible.
Where are they all?
What are we paying them for?
An utter disgrace!
They should be put on special measures by the goverment.

Inhumane people in Parking Services completely out of their depth. A contested PCN which was paid in full regardless under protest and in full and final settlement. Believing the matter closed as over 5 months all communications from the victim had been ignored. Allegedly Parking Services subsequently did send letters to an address that was not the address for the victim at the DVLA. Meaning letters went missing and the Warrant of Control to seize goods was in fact legally invalid and legally not commensurate with the alleged missed payment.

Due to Parking Services own gross negligence and abusing their power, they increased their fees by a preposterous 2068.57%. A formal appeal was immediately filed with the UK Courts and a complaint has been filed with Local Authority Ombudsman. These people do neither operate with any human judgment, nor discretion, nor compassion, nor tact nor accuracy intentionally causing physical, emotional and financial harm despite demonstrably and officially listed as vulnerable.

SEN TRANSPORT - FOREST MINI BUS DRIVER AND HELPER FOREST OF DEAN. The driver and the helper are extremely abusive, obnoxious people in charge of special needs children I’ve ever witnessed. They block my access into my own property when try talking to the driver he gets extremely offensive and abusive towards myself probably because I’m a woman. When my husband approached him about when is he going to move the mini bus as he needed to go to Gloucester hospital urgently for treatment the driver and helper started a heated argument and threats were made and the children witnessed aggressive behaviour. Absolutely appalling that these children have to go through this from the driver and the helper they left the children unattended on the bus whilst they were causing trouble. The child on the bus was about just 6 years old and its special needs and the poor boy had to witness this. I Hope something is done as I’ve never known anything like it.

I have been emailing for over a year trying to sort out my final council tax bill following moving out and renting out my property. I had been getting no reponse from them but now received a bill with legal fees! They have my direct debit details (I have been paying council tax for over 15 years). I am at a loss as to what to do next. All I get is an automated response.

Absolutely shocking and pathetic.

I received a bill of £331 today 04/07/2023 for a property I left 7 months ago. When I left I made sure I settled full and final. This is not fair on families who are just living on the budget and sudden bills pops up like that. Shocking

Slow, inefficient, struggling to keep up with basic requirements - the list is long. Emails aren't often answered and, when they are, they're generally unhelpful and don't solve a problem. I love living in the Cotswolds but would rather live within the area of any other county council!

As it suits them but not the tax payers even when they have to rectify their mistakes.

They didn't collect my bin (and this happens sooooo many times). Their reply: You can only report a missed collection after 4pm on the day of your collection and by 4pm the next working day. We will then collect your waste or recycling within 2 working days. So basically you're on shift or away and reply as soon as as you get home, unfortunately here 2h30 out of the short 24h window they give you. Buuuut, if you reply within the time given, they do get 48h to come back to do the job they was supposed to do in the 1st place.

My recycling bag goes missing on collection day. Their answer to this issue: Go and pick one that is out of your way oh and it has to be during your working hours.

They are just interested in the tax we pay and have only solutions for people that don't work and/or have family nearby to help them.

Even that review won't make any difference, clearly, or they would start caring about people, and work hard to change things for the better and get their rating here much better.

I never thought I would ever write a five star review about my local council. I had bad experiences with the highways department in the past.
However…
This time round they were fantastic about damage to my car in roadworks. They were quick, helpful, empathetic. My issue was resolved really quickly.

Absolutely shambolic organisation. Council tax bill of £438.71 came through the post today despite payment taken via direct debit every month. Seeking legal advice.

A pointless council who think it's acceptable for the roads in the forest of Dean to have pot holes and uneven surfaces. Coalway road is a disgrace and fed up of nothing being done. Why bother paying council tax etc?? Sort the roads out. Damage to my car and there will be trouble.