Praise for Ashfield District Council team which handled 40,000 enquiries in first months of lockdown

Between March and July 3, staff have fielded 40,696 phone calls and emails, ranging from requests for food parcels and medications to general advice on the lockdown rules.

The appeals for help have been wide-ranging. One message, received in mid-April, asked for the council’s assistance finding a resident’s false teeth.

Other contacts included a bulky collection request for just the springs from a mattress, a report of a terrapin spotted on an Ashfield lawn, and a resident concerned that old coal mines were about to collapse.

Councillor Samantha Deakin, the cabinet member for customer services, said: “Although we couldn’t locate the false teeth – we were able to assist in tens of thousands of cases. Our staff showed incredible discipline. They all worked from home and like the rest of our council staff went over and above the call of duty.”

She added: “Their busiest week was right at the start of lockdown, March 23-29 – our customer team answered an incredible 979 phone calls.

"They really are the unsung heroes of this lockdown – offering a friendly, effective voice for concerned and vulnerable residents.”

The customer services teams also dealt with emerging issues such as Covid-19 fraud, which saw staff working in partnership with the community protection team to resolve numerous complaints.

They also came to the rescue of residents in distress – arranging for supervised visits to closed cemeteries, for instance.

Whilst fly-tipping was down 35 per cent compared to the previous year – the customer services team still had to deal with 263 complaints about the issue over the same period.

Council leader Jason Zadrozny said, “Our customer services’ team were on the front line dealing with a huge variety of issues.

"It is no exaggeration to suggest that during the Covid-19 – customer services were the fourth emergency service in our district. I would like to place on record my appreciation to every member of our customer services team. They were brilliant.”