Reading Borough Council Reviews 

Awful customer service. Extremely rude staff.
They should really review the very badly signed bus lanes that keep catching people out and dishing out PCNs.

The research revealed that Reading made £2,176,571 in PCNs in the last year!

In March I accidentally drove into bus lane whilst lost going to job interview. Never driven in Reading b4 as live in Bristol. I was so lost that I missed the interview. Got a fine for this that I couldn’t pay as I was out of work. This was doubled to £90. Wrote to council to explain this was accidental, I didn’t know the area what and that I’m not working & now have cancer (since end of May) and that I don’t have the money. Today I got a Recovery Order with an extra £8 added to bill. Atrocious customer empathy & service & just another stress to deal with after 2 cancer ops & preparing for chemo. Do they really need the £90? I know things are bad, but seriously this is unbelievable. That said, looking at other reviews, the general public appear to give poor ratings about them too.

Awful. Never answer calls, we've had our bins taken with no announcement and for no reason. They are a parasite on the town, do nothing but put their snouts in the trough. Useless.

Worst customer service , dealt with June Burge from council tax department , she was rude and arrogant, wasn’t helpful at all made false assumptions and had a go at me.

Wouldn’t recommend at all so unprofessional

These people are the biggest bunch of imbeciles known to mankind, allocate insufficient houseing to the insufficient, just sent me their budget report which is the biggest bunch of baloney known to mankind. My whole life these people have done nothing for me and will never do anything for me despite my efforts I hope I never to have to deal with these criminals in any capacity ever!

I have been emailing the taxi licencing department with a complaint about a driver. Four emails sent so far, not one response.

Reading borough council bus lane PCN dept. Please review your bus lane under the bridge as this is borderline criminal on how drivers are fined. The very badly signed bus lane is directly under the bridge (not before or after) which, due to the change in light conditions when entering the tunnel is also very difficult to see. It is such a short bus lane (whats the reason for this?) that quickly returns to a normal lane once leaving (another change of light). You then approach a roundabout very quickly hence if you needed to make a right turn the bus lane HAS YOU..... You automatically move into the right lane if you need to go right at the roundabout. in my case i gained absolutely no advantage and couldn't have moved out of the lane quick enough to not receive a fine if I'd needed to. This is chaotic and unfair for new drivers and drivers not used to the area.

The appeal process is also complicated and no explanation is given on the pcn document or website page that you if your not the registered as the owner then you can't discuss the case or appeal (marriage, photo of you driving and being on the insurance doesn't matter) without written consent from the registered keeper. This if fine due to GDPR (if its known in advance) but when you've spent half the day researching and documenting evidence its wholly unacceptable to not receive a return email or correspondence informing of such.

I then had to chase this by calling the dept to explain but was told very angrily by the employee that she couldn't discuss the case, (i just wanted to see if they had receipt of my appeal). she then HUNG UP...... I immediately called back to speak to a manager but the next employee was much more helpful and she explained the reasoning behind the GDPR and she did intimate that the case would probably be on hold whilst it was being looked at which is all I needed to know at that point. The first employee needs immediate training and improvement of manners.

I was also promised that a manager would follow this up with a call to me but I still haven't received to date.

My wife received a standard letter a few days later following her call in which she tried to explain that I was the driver. She gave her permission for me to discuss the PCN but again the council employee was very rude and informed her that this was the last time they'd accept a call to verify the driver detail (possibly the same employee I spoke to in the first instance, rude).
The letter was basically a generic standard letter stating that written confirmation was required to discuss a case through a third party. It was so complicated and confusingly written, that rather han go through the whole proceess of documenting and re entering the originally wrtiine defence (no correspondence to say what they'd receievd for us to review and paste) that we just decided to pay. This was really FEAR of missing the 50% DISCOUNT on a PCN which I guarantee this area has brought the council untold riches, perhaps they should use the funds to train some of their staff :).

Come on Reading Council, this is unacceptable, the PCN Camera area just under a bridge before turning right, the shocking signage, the roadworks and Reading festival set up, the difficulty getting to the train station drop off due to one way systems. There is also no way that you can get out of the lane in time for the camera not to tag you if you'd made a genuine mistake and were going straight ahead.

Please, Please look at this area as if your not a regular user it seems to be a licence to print money. All comments welcome apart from you shouldn't have used the lane, as I'm well aware.....