ROCK bottom and diabolical are descriptions of a flagship council service that may not surprise some Worcestershire residents but undoubtedly alarm many others.

More than 14,000 people who called the Worcestershire Hub – set up as a central point for people to contact any local council – in the three months to September simply gave up due to the time it was taken for their calls to be answered.

That is an outrageously bad figure. And the situation gets worse – of the calls that did get answered only 17 per cent of them were picked up within the target time of 20 seconds.

The city councillor with responsibility for the service in Worcester admits the Hub has hit, in her words, “rock bottom”. Opposition councillors have slated the poor performance and the city’s head of finance says things are “totally unacceptable” and as a result “a lot of kicking butt has taken place”.

None of this makes pretty reading for council tax payers who wish to use the service or the staff who operate it.

Something is going very wrong somewhere. Indeed, we would venture to suggest the Worcestershire Hub is not fit for purpose.

It is said that once people get through to the Hub they are happy with the service provided. But does that mean much if almost as many people are giving up on calls as are getting through?

It is said that figures for last month are better with 60 per cent of calls answered within 20 seconds.

But is that 60 per cent of a lower volume of calls because people have been deterred from calling because of previous poor performance?

The Hub should be a great service for council tax payers. That it is not is a great shame because the people of this county deserve better.