Thanks guys,
@ RWH - if you have a genuine problem with the Council, and Councils do fuck up on a fairly regular basis, my advice to you is as follows:

1 - don't be a wanker. State what happened (the more of the paperwork and logs of phone call etc. the better) without (I cannot emphasise this enough) being a cunt. Say exactly what the Council did wrong, and (far more importantly):

**what you want them to do about it**

Many are the times when I got a complaint and my response was "so what do you want us to do about it?". If you say "I spent £10 on phone calls and I think messing about to sort your mess out should be worth at least £100 of my time and hassle" that gives whoever is looking at your letter a means of getting it off their desk and out of the system whilst knowing you'll be satisfied, and that's gold-dust to a harassed Council desk-jockey.

2 - be persistent - The first person you talk to might be a wanker, but you have a legal right to escalate your complaint to whoever is next up in the tree. Make it clear you want to take the complaint to Stage 2 (or 3). If the Council obfuscates, go talk to the Ombudsman (www.lgo.org.uk) - these people don't fuck about, and Councils are terrified of them.

3 - learn to accept defeat - if the Council just happens to clearly be in the right, we don't blame you, some of this stuff is complicated and governed by the most byzantine legislation known to man. Just don't drag the complaint to the Ombudsman just to cause the council trouble - we can deal with your paperwork all fucking day, we just pass on the cost to Joe Taxpayer, so that's who you are really fucking over by grinding your axe - remember that.
(Axeman Jim, Sat 6 Sep 2008, 0:07, Reply)