Birmingham City Council Avis 

Waiting on the phone for nearly an hour for someone to answer my call, then to be told they couldn’t help with my enquiry so had to transfer me to a different department… Where I had to wait a further 40mins

The worst City Council I have been unfortunate enough to live under and fund. The council tax has gone up at a much higher rate than inflation - every single year - for many years. The city has become dirtier and dirtier with every passing year. The roads are full of potholes. There are so many temporary traffic signals where no one ever is seen doing any work. All council money is spent in funding some particular places of religion and for supporting 'diversity'. The council has managed very successfully to run a once beautiful and great city down to the gutter. I would leave Birmingham if I could.

School admissions have become even worse, I applied for 6 schools for my daughter which are best, even went to see them, and they gave me the worse school, with the worst ofsed report, and not even one of our choices! Now it's going to waste our time appealing, and I know they will still mess us around. My daughter is so upset.

I parked at Snow Hill in April 2023 and forgot to pay for my ticket on parking, but paid when I realised at work. So my duration was fully covered before I got back to my car.

I’m then met with a fine, when speaking to someone from the council they explained people make mistakes and it should be ok, just pop an appeal through. So I didn’t worry about it and submitted my appeal - I heard nothing back and received another letter about payment. I called them and was told they’d sent an email/letter rejecting my appeal (neither had been received) when I asked them to resend it or let me know why it was rejected they said no.

Next I had to appeal through the TEC and as I’m waiting for a response from them, I get a bailiff at my door at 620am! As a women staying on her own, this was extremely frightening. I genuinely thought the house was being broken into at first. I was mortified - I ran downstairs and saw a letter about repossessing my property. I work for a charity and can’t cancel my meetings last minute so I eventually paid the £394 after going back and forth with the bailiff. He didn’t listen, he wasn’t interested in anything I had to say about how I was waiting to hear back from my appeal. His attitude was truly awful and his broken English made it even harder to communicate and resolve the situation.

This is all because Birmingham City Council decided people can’t make genuine mistakes anymore, as they have millions of pounds of debt they need to claw back. Absolute SCAM. I will be avoiding any council owned car parks going forwards and will be taking this further to get my money back.

The best part is, they’ve taken the £394 and still kept the money I paid for my ticket!

Inside and outside leak has been going on for over a year! They keep saying its sorted but isnt. Massive amounts of water coming inside my sons room . They keep sending out the same useless roofer who just sits in his van. I have video and photo proof of him NOT doing anything

I had no idea about the clean air zone until I received word of a very significant late penalty charge. Birmingham City Council couldn't bother to send me a letter, so unfortunately it went to an enforcement agent and they managed to get in touch. Of course I would have paid the charge immediately had I been made aware! I'm not sure why Birmingham is so inept, the City of London has no problem getting in touch with me via post. If you want my honest opinion, greedy Birmingham City Council just wanted the multiple fee fee (£££)... like something out of a Simpsons episode, but not nearly as humorous. However, they themselves are nothing short of a joke.

Unfortunately, there are a number of issues with this very poorly run City Council, and this is one of them that relates to Council tax. Mum, age 91, gets letter that she needs to log on to online server and enter account number including Access key code (never mind that she suffers with weak sight and does not have access to a PC). Family log on for her and enter codes / numbers (3 times) and 3 times the system has a problem! Family contact BCC and raise the issue, the Agent checks and enters the codes/numbers manually. They finish by saying, it is now done and all ok. 2 weeks later, another letter arrives, same as before, however, now threatening to stop the single person discount if not logged on and codes entered within 2 days. Family log on again, enter codes and numbers, guess what? Same as before, issue with system! Now, do we need to ask why this Council recently went Bankrupt? Not really, it's simply not able to function because they do not seem to see the issues and problems that are taking place. Have they considered elderly people? Nothing so far has demonstrated to me, that they have.

Just touched the clean air zone by accident and just before midnight, so had to pay for two days as the call centre couldn't tell me which day(s) I was clocked and I didn't want to risk getting a PCN.

They'd soon manage to tell me when I was there if I hadn't paid, what a con! Another way to tax money from the motorists and give it to their paracitic mates who administer and run this circus!

They have tried to scam me out of an exorbitant amount of money because I have moved into a new build and expect me to pay council tax on this new property for all the months that I wasn't the registered owner. I tried calling and asking for help and the best response I got off them was a 'that's just the way the cookie crumbles' attitude. Very unhelpful and extremely unfriendly or caring on the phone. They went bankrupt this year and haven't denied when I asked if they were trying to take additional money off me because they need it themselves. I have spoken to citizens advice and the ombudsman as well as other residents in my buildung who moved in this year and AREN'T paying the same amount that the council want to charge me. The former two have both advised that this isn't right and I need to be pursuing this further and complaining. The council have yet to respond and seem to be taking a deliberate amount of time.

Became homeless after my break up from my 14yr relationship found HMO that was terrible I complained of drug mis-use and long story short I was put back on street from a homeless shelter Kind Hands worse in world then I contact council 3days I been on streets cos council can’t find me a roof to live under Great Britain what a joke nothing great about this hell hole I will be dead in few days thanks to neglect by Birmingham City Council

What a joke Birmingham City Council are, three months ago they put scaffolding round mine and the neighbours shed, no one knows why this was done, the council don't know why it's there, I've phoned eight times and still none the wiser, now I can't see what the problem is, it was put up by mistake and mistakes happen, so all Birmingham City Council have to do is tell the scaffolding firm to take it down, why is this such a mission for them oh yeah incompetent council that should all be given the sack for there failings and putting Birmingham City Council in bankruptcy, and if I worked for these clowns and someone asked me where I work I'd rather say I work at McDonald's or selling big issue mags

Disgusting

Got a PCN notice for driving through the clean air zone although I had paid on the day I had driven into the zone. why????????????

If I could give 0 stars I would!!

Received a bus lane fine through the post and this was the first letter I had for it and was made aware of. It stated the cost has doubled to £105.00 from £70 as it had not yet been paid yet this was the FIRST I’ve heard of it.
Called up to discuss this and the woman was absolutely rude shocking how she has a job there! She was very sarcastic in a very unprofessional manor I wish I got her name to make everyone aware of the nasty woman! They said there is nothing I can do other than pay this or ignore it and go to court and get a potential CCJ for not paying it as it on their records they sent the first letter, when it was not sent! Now with someone with anxiety too this is not what you want to get told. I think this is absolutely appalling. Typically Birmingham city council are in the gutter with money and are doing nothing at all for the community and I didn’t receive the first letter, but it’s doubled makes me think they didn’t send it to scam more money instead of sending it!

Leaving a 1 star is too good, but is the only way to leave a review! Charged £120 for a pcn I appealed! Charged for Images of the vehicle captured on camera at Bristol Street at Belgrave Middleway Although this is not supposed to be part of the clean air zone as clearly stated all on there websites! They broke so they just trying to get all the money they can from people who are already below the breadline! Very disappointing that this is how low they have scoop to get money from people who are already struggling!

Just bad 😞 literally what is wrong with these people

I received a pcn for entering the clean air zone. We travelled via the back roads and there were no signs anywhere, as we were part of a wedding convoy a number of cars received this. The other vehicles appealed and were let off. I appealed and did not hear anything back, they have now written to me 1.5 years later demanding payment.

I contested the decision on my Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) within three days of receiving the notice. However, the council took seven weeks to respond and ultimately rejected my appeal. The PCN amount should have been frozen or reduced during the appeal process since I submitted my representation within 14 days. Unfortunately, they not only refused this request but also increased the PCN to the full amount.

Additionally, their online system lacks the functionality to submit appeals, forcing individuals to go through the inconvenience of writing a physical letter, visiting the post office, and paying for postage. This situation suggests a deliberate effort to discourage people from exercising their right to appeal, which is a matter of public entitlement.

Since June I’ve been trying to sort my issue out regarding my council tax ! It’s December tomorrow and still waiting, I sent several emails, some letters regarding my situation, and I feel like I just wasted my time with this company!

Appealed clean air fine, thought the cost of £60 would of been frozen until the verdict came through. But oh no not only was my claim denied it has increased to £120. As a bankrupt council I doubt very much anyone wins their appeal. Absolute robbing ba@#@rds!!

I fully agree with negative comments below. To add to it the advisers are so rude… no wonder why they went bankrupt.