Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Parking Permits - the new, even worse service!
I've just had the pleasure of interacting with our wonderful council parking service again, and thought others might find the tale a useful warning.
If you need visitor parking permits in a hurry - the system has changed (again!) and is now worse than ever:
- You can apply online, but that will take up to 13 days (according to the Council)
- You can visit the Customer Service Centre, but they can only sell you 8 permits.
Yes, you read that last bit right. The new, improved service allows you to stand in the long queues (see threads passim), only to discover you can only get 8 permits. You can order more for later delivery, but only get 8 on the day. This is apparently an edict from the Parking Service to "encourage usage of the online system".
For added hilarity, you don't have to pay there and then for the permits - oh no. That would be too simple, since you're there with a nice chip'n'pin terminal right in front of you. You have to give a phone number, and then apparently someone from the Parking Service will phone you to take payment for the permits. It's been a week since I visited, and no call so far. Maybe I won't have to pay after all.
Of course, you could use the online system. This is the one which starts by you emailing (!) someone to get an applicant ID (takes 3 days). You can then go to the website and order your vouchers and have them sent out (up to 10 days). Good luck if you have anyone visiting in the next two weeks.
Given the dog's breakfast that is the online system (thanks Civica!) I'm not surprised that people still choose to use the Customer Service Centre. So rather than improving the online system, the Parking Service has decided to break the existing system to make online look good in comparison. What a stroke of genius.
If it wasn't so sad, the Byzantine complexity achieved in a system for issuing visitor parking permits would be rather impressive.
Talking to the Customer Service staff, they're well aware the system sucks, but are powerless to effect change. So they end up dealing with disgruntled customers all day. I did suggest that the head of the parking service would like to spend some time on the front line, but the nice lady questioned my sanity for suggesting such an improbable event.
Tags for Forum Posts: bad, council, customer, parking, parking permits online, permits, service
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Paul on
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I'm going to have to apply for visitors' permits shortly while I have some work done on my house. Thanks for the heads up here on yet another quality service from Haringey Council - how can they make such a complete mess of this? (don't worry, that was a trick question). Actually, I'm not surprised, but I'm pretty sure my surprise will quickly turn to anger if I have to go through something akin to your experience. I sincerely hope they do not then have the audacity to ask me to fill out a customer satisfaction survey.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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No doubt a free amuse-bouche offered by the Parking Service. To liven-up our debating palate after too much seasonal goodwill.
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Permalink Reply by Malcolm on
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Indeed, would that it were. Alas in this case the changes are over 3 months old (apparently) - although you'll search in vain for any mention on the website.
There's several things broken here, in a rough order from easiest to hardest to fix:
- No mention of the limitation of 8 vouchers on the website
- Having a limitation at all
- Designing an online system that doesn't allow you to order different types of vouchers with one payment
- Designing an online system that requires an email registration
- Needing 3 days to respond to said registration
- Taking 10 days to send out the vouchers
On this occasion the person at the service centre was helpful and competent - sadly the same cannot be said for the system she was working with.
Alan or other councillors: are any of you interested in taking up this issue with the Parking Service? Since I have to regularly fork out quantities of cash for these vouchers, I'd love to see the system actually work.
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You could try your ward councillors, Malcolm. (If you're unsure which one to pick, I can offer a free confidential Which Councillor? guide.)
I'm still hopeful that the Council may take up John McMullan's more than generous offer of paying £500 to run the Parking Service for a day. Though my guess is that even John might need a few days to sort this little problem out.
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Neil, as far as I can tell this service has been outsourced - the URL features the name of Civica prominently.
As someone who works in IT, it's rarely the actual implementation that's the problem - it's the wider design and process issues that computer systems tend to highlight, but that are not amenable to a technical fix.
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I'm afraid neilt this IS a political matter. Not party political but in so much as we elect the councillors to look after the welfare of the residents, business people and visitiors to Haringey.
If the system is broke they need to kick ass to ensure that it gets fixed.
They should pay more attention and ask the technocrats to account for the inefficiencies.
I am tired of the excuses when there are loads of efficient systems in place everywhere else and all too often we end up with crap. Haringey does not have to reinvent the wheel.
I live in Tottenahm and the general responsibility for how the place is lies very clearly on the Council because there are loads of people keen enough to improve it and who love their community and neighbourhood. But the vision and leadership are thoroughly lacking. It is such a STRUGGLE to get things we are entitled too far less for things we aspire to.
Just go to Hale Village and see the new Broadwater farm that they are promoting as regeneration....!
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Going around kicking animals won't fix problems in the Parking Service.
Hale Village isn't Broadwater Farm. Though as one of the ward councillors I've never pretended that it was regeneration.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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As to Which Councillor?, Malcolm, I think Alan means Cllr Alexander or Cllr Schmitz. Alan is an honest counsellor.
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Thanks Alan - I will indeed raise with my ward councillors. I wondered if you'd be interested given previous discussions and your interest in systems solutions and systems thinking. If there was ever a better example of the need for such thinking, I don't know of it.
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I will raise it, Malcolm - as a general issue affecting all wards. But I suspect that nothing is likely to change until more than a handful of councillors are pressing for change. Especially if it's Stanton-there-he-goes-again.
I don't know which ward you're in, but do please email all three of your councillors. Copy in Nilgun Canver as she is "cabinet" councillor whose remit includes parking.
Bear in mind as well that many Haringey staff use words and phrases like "systems thinking", "business process" and "work flow". I'm sure that many of them - usually the brighter, more open minded ones - have a far better grasp of the underlying concepts than I do. But I'm very dubious about how far they're allowed to put any of this into practice.
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Permalink Reply by Karen Alexander on
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Malcolm, just picked up this thread. Very happy to take your issues up with the Parking Department - Cllr Stanton is right in that if more of us take the issue more is likely to get done! Please drop me an e-mail at either my haringey council address or karen.alexander.haringeylibdems@gmail.com
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