MORE than 39,000 people hung up their phone calls to Newport City Council so far this year because of “lengthy” delays, it has been claimed.

The figures were released by Newport’s Conservative group following a freedom of information (FOI) request.

It revealed that between January to July 2017 the council received a total of 170,371 calls. But 39,254 caller put down the phone before it was answered.

The FOI also showed the council tax line received 3,517 calls in February, with an average time wait on a Monday totalling 22.57 minutes. The statistics also revealed that 857 people hung up calls during this period.

Caerleon councillor Joan Watkins said “I’ve been bombarded with complaints throughout the summer from residents complaining about the lengthy wait times.

“I instructed my team to run an urgent FOI to get to the bottom of this. The call centre have very good staff working there, but we simply need more of them.”

Group leader Cllr Matthew Evans said: “When basic services across the board like refuse collections are not being adequately delivered by the council, you’re going to see an increase in calls. This is a real concern.”

And Conservative activist Michael Enea said: “Most worryingly, the social services line appears to have under-performed. In March 2017, there were 2,894 calls made to social services, with 675 abandoned calls.

“The average wait time for this month was 7.23 minutes. It is worrying because most often it is the vulnerable and those in distress who may call this line for help.”

A Newport City Council spokeswoman said the authority employs 21 full-time staff in its customer services team.

“Residents can choose from a variety of ways to contact the council which does not involve waiting to speak to a customer services officer on the 01633 656656 phone service,” she said.

“For example, anyone wanting to pay council tax can do so by direct debit, pay online, pay in person at Pay Points around the city.

“Residents can also use drop in sessions in libraries and community centres, digital events and face to face at the Information Station.

“In these challenging times when many local authorities are facing budget savings Newport City Council is always looking at new ways to deliver customer services.”