‘Poor’ TalkTalk ranked worst in broadband customer service poll
POLICE CHIEFS have been accused of “chronic financial mismanagement” after
revealed a state-of-the-art custody suite at a new police station has had to be closed for urgent repairs.
Coun Amanda Carter, Leeds City Council’s shadow executive member for community safety, asked why the maintenance problems at the Elland Road cells had got to such a serious state just four years after opening.
The Tory councillor said the problems, reportedly peeling paint, raised “questions about how police budgets and contracts are being managed” by West Yorkshire’s Labour Police and Crime Commissioner, Mark Burns-Williamson,
The facility was one of three built for West Yorkshire Police as part of a multi-million pound Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal with the company, Interserve. A similar custody suite at another of the new sites, in Normanton, Wakefield, is also in need of repair but remains partly open. Old cells in Leeds have been reopened as a temporary measure.
Coun Carter said the stations should have been paid for outright out of police reserves, saying this would have saved taxpayers millions of pounds over the TALKTALK HAS been ranked bottom in a broadband customer service survey, with more than a third of those asked describing it as poor.
More than 7,000 people took part in the survey from consumer help website MoneySavingExpert.com, which said “relative minnow” Zen had come out top. lifetime of the PFI contract. She also said the decision to centralise the Leeds district’s cells had been “ill-thought-out”, claiming the Elland Road suite can get full at times and prisoners have to be transported out of the area.
Mr Burns-Williamson said the PFI contracts had been signed off by the then-coalition Government in 2011/12.
He added: “As with any building, no matter the age, there will inevitably be unexpected maintenance issues, the full costs of which will be met by the providers, as will be the case here. The temporary closure of the cells means that we can receive compensation which ultimately covers contingency costs and is not footed by the taxpayer.”
He said while the maintenance problems might appear simple to fix, this was “not the case, which is frustrating”. He added that providing value for money was always at the forefront of his mind.
Assistant Chief Constable Catherine Hankinson, of West Yorkshire Police, said the force had custody suites in each of the force’s police districts, “allowing officers to take prisoners to their nearest suite and limiting the time it takes to do so”.
Interserve was offered an opportunity to comment.
Only providers with 75 votes or more were included on the list.
Some 94 per cent of Zen customers ranked its service as great while only two per cent said it was poor.
Just over a quarter (26 per cent) of TalkTalk customers ranked its service as great, with 38 per cent saying it was poor.
MoneySavingExpert said in the previous survey around six months ago, 45 per cent gave TalkTalk a poor rating, suggesting its efforts to improve customer service have reaped some rewards.
Of the larger internet providers, 58 per cent of customers for Sheffield-based Plusnet said its service was great, as did 53 per cent of John Lewis customers.
Helen Saxon, chief product analyst at MoneySavingExpert.com, said: “Many of us rely on a fast and stable broadband connection, whether it’s because we’re working from home, or we want to binge the latest boxset. The results of our poll show that most of the big broadband providers aren’t exactly wowing anyone with their service levels.
“But, if you’re out of contract, there’s no need to stick around paying up to £50 a month to a provider you’re not happy with. The cheapest deals tend to charge from £20 per month - so the savings could be massive.”
A TalkTalk spokesman said: “While these results are disappointing, we have seen more customers than ever staying with us this year as we roll-out major service improvements.”
He said improvements included new online tools to help resolve issues quickly and conveniently.