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The residents of Dale Farm are facing ‘inhuman levels’ of surveys and requests for feedback about the services offered to them by Basildon Council. Mr Derek O’Hara, a former resident of the controversial site, described the situation as ‘poor to very poor. I’d say 3 out of 10’.

But council officials claim that the travellers should expect to be treated like any other member of the public. Carole Fischer, a Communities Liaison Officer, has defended the council. ‘As decent, law-abiding, tax-paying members of a minority group, travellers are incredibly important customers of ours and we need to make sure the ‘Council Experience’ is as enjoyable as possible.’

‘If we’ve learned one thing from the private sector, it’s that customers love to be hounded to fill in surveys or leave feedback. We need to find out if there’s anything we can learn from the travellers’ experience, and a regular 360 degree review of our procedures is really key to our quality system. This way, the residents should see a statistically significant improvement in performance when they move 100 yards down the road, and we start the whole process again.’

So far, the travellers have been battered by feedback requests from over 30 departments by post, telephone and loud hailer. ‘The Diversity Officer was the most annoying’, claimed O’Hara. ‘She bellowed her questions through a public address system that encircled our camp.’

‘We told her we weren’t interested and that we already had double standards. But she wouldn’t give up. We nearly cracked when she added a background of wistful, Irish pipe music to her demands, it was a blessing when her speaker cables went missing. Although according to her own pamphlets, it was a bit racist of her to ask us if we knew anything about that.’

Amnesty International has entered the debate, claiming that endless questioning about trivial matters is a form of torture. ‘When people arrive on your doorstep, banging on about what a good job they could do for you and confusing you with their weird phrases and expressions, it’s no wonder people feel intimidated. We think they should pack it in and move on. I’m talking about the council’s canvassers obviously, not the pikeys.’

The local authority intends to continue with its questioning however until they are sure of a 100% satisfaction rating, and has been buoyed by positive feedback from bailiffs, who had particular praise for the air quality, the leisurely two weeks spent sitting around before the eviction, and the opportunities to appear on television.

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Posted: Oct 19th, 2011 by waylandsmithy