Lambeth Council Reviews 222

Lambeth council is absolutely pathetic and defunct. How it still exists is beyond me!?
A complaints team run by twits, overseen by a bunch of mooks.

This corporation has to be the worse in the country.

Traing to buy a parking voucher for a trader online is a nightmare, the drop down fields don't work so you can't actually buy one. Try and call them and its an automated system that eventually says all parking enquiries are handled online.
Try to talk to a parking inspector and they have no idea how to buy a voucher.
Couldn't make it more difficult if they tried.

Lambeth council directors should be held accountable for all unlawful activities they have committed, such as falsifying road traffic offences when the signs were graffiti-covered and not visible, and appointing a person who fines others arbitrarily on a give way sign. They are the biggest cheats and thieves, and everyone in this department should be brought to justice. They exploit the public by collecting unlawful fines, knowing they are in the wrong, and continue to bully people when they are supposed to serve us. Vote these criminals out! They are using public money solely to attack the public.

It actually gives me 5 stars to rate from without writing a comment I would give Lambeth no stars at all even if I was in hell that I am
In right now with my daughter because Lambeth. Lambeth housing has no role in there job I have been down the centre of the Lambeth that’s ment to be helping us and I have got told they don’t do face to face appointments because there are mostly at home doing the work from there computer this is why Lambeth has failed us

Needed help with an issue with their parking website, their phone service only refers you to the website, eventually got through to someone, patiently explained the issue and the absolute muppet referred me to the website. I pay taxes to employ someone to sit by a phone doing this! Thieves.

Obscured.Graffitti and Painted over PCN…
Obscured.Graffitti and Painted over PCN camera!

Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to lodge a formal complaint and to challenge the above-referenced Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), which I believe has been unfairly and unlawfully issued.

Grounds for Complaint:

The enforcement camera used to issue this PCN was not visible or clearly signposted, which is in direct violation of the guidelines surrounding fair and transparent enforcement. Upon inspecting the area, I found that the enforcement camera was :

Obstructed by graffiti,
Painted over,
Otherwise concealed, making it impossible for drivers to be aware they are under surveillance.
This lack of visibility breaches both the Traffic Management Act 2004 and Department for Transport’s guidelines on the use of CCTV enforcement, which state that all enforcement equipment must be clearly visible and signage must be adequate.

Request for Immediate Action:

I respectfully request the following:

Cancellation of the PCN, as it was issued under circumstances that violate enforcement guidelines.
A full investigation into the condition and visibility of the camera used for enforcement at the location of the alleged contravention.
Confirmation in writing that this PCN has been cancelled, or alternatively, a detailed explanation with evidence proving the camera was compliant with regulations at the time of issuance.
I reserve the right to escalate this matter to the London Tribunals and to request a Freedom of Information (FOI) release of maintenance records and camera visibility checks if necessary.

Please acknowledge receipt of this complaint and provide a written response within 14 working days.

I paid this PCN under duress and stress as the deadline for full payment was fast approaching before I could return to the contravention to get photographic evidence.

I will seek legal advice, as I have the photographs of the obscured camera.

Never move to Lambeth. It's unsafe, expensive, and the council will never provide you with any support or help. I've lived here for 8 months and never had a moments peace. The council endorses event after event in the park outside my flat, but there's no way to find out in advance. So even if you ask them, they'll say nothing is planned. Then you're screwed. I've hated it here ever since the moment I moved and I'll never be returning to Lambeth. Don't waste your council tax money on this place. It goes down a drain.

I received a penalty charge notice stating that I must pay £80 for parking, even though I didn’t park but only drove past.

In my experience, the majority of Housing Officers in the Brixton ward of Lambeth Council are not fulfilling the basic responsibilities outlined in their job descriptions.

They routinely ignore emails and fail to provide any updates or information regarding ongoing complaints.

They rely on automated AI responses rather than offering a personal, human approach.

They make constant excuses — citing time scales or staffing issues — but take no real action.

There is a clear lack of communication between officers, and no continuity or consistency in how cases are handled.

Complaints and resolutions logged on the Lambeth Central system are frequently ignored.

At times, I’ve observed that:

Some officers are only working two days a week, and during a particularly critical period, three officers were on annual leave at the same time.

This results in long delays, no follow-up, and poor service delivery.

Whoever conducts their appraisals and performance reviews should be held accountable by a higher, external authority. In my opinion, many of these officers show a lack of care, consistency, and empathy towards residents — especially those who are vulnerable or in urgent need of support.

I have been forced to send multiple emails to various departments, including Housing, the Complaints Department, the CEO, the Leader of Lambeth Council, my local councillor, and even the Housing Ombudsman.

Last year, I took legal action against the council with the support of a solicitor — and won my case. Yet the same issues continue, with Housing Officers repeating the exact same failures as before. It appears they are ignoring the findings of the Ombudsman’s report, as well as warnings issued by Michael Gove’s office regarding local authority failings.

Frankly, thousands of people who are unemployed would be grateful for such positions. It’s time Housing Officers reflected on that.

I strongly believe there must be stricter monitoring, external audits, and more rigorous appraisals of Lambeth Housing Officers in the Brixton ward. This is not a matter of poor service — it’s a failure of duty of care and professional responsibility.

It’s worth noting that other departments within Lambeth Council — such as Rents, Parking, and Refuse — have been excellent to deal with. My complaint is solely with the Housing team.

At this point, I have no confidence whatsoever in the ability of Brixton’s Housing Officers to fulfil their roles and responsibilities to the community.

tried doing online Register Office form and says cannot do what i need to do online and call a number. call the number and automated service gives dead end options and call ends. Sign up for mylambeth fails on several attempts. After register for Customer portal, get message "Cannot have null value" - Really so bad

Dreadful customer service. Attempting to find out why automatic customer verification isn't working. Web site is of no value. Phone up and am referred back to web site before being cut off. What a mess.

Lambeth parking service is awfully bad!! They will send you emails that one cannot reply to direct and the reference is attached does not work via their website…. Forget trying to call.

Payment collection department is fully active though!!

Currently being harassed by an African male employee of Lambeth Council who came to my home and exhibited in my opinion inappropriate behaviour towards me. This man then went onto fabricate a scenario that never occurred. At present I am very scared and worried what he will do to me next. His behaviour has caused me to be be severely alarmed, distressed and fearful of further harm.

Stop violence against women and girls.

Lambeth Council parking department are criminals and need to be investigated! My car permit has been cancelled and the system they use do not let you update your new card details even though the bank details are still the same!!! Now they want to charge the new fees even thou my original permit was on a rolling contract!

You can not get through to no 1 in this department and the complaints department are just as bad!!

A major overall has to be done in this department urgently!!!

I struggled to make FPN payment, emailed the council and never heard back.
I called the council to postpone the payment. The person on the phone told me they can do it but there's no guarantee it would be postponed!
To avoid an even higher fine, I tried to pay online with the system kicking me out several times. I called the council to make the payment, the guy I spoke to struggled with the system for nearly 15 minutes, eventually he passed me onto his colleague who said it was too late to make payment over the phone. She told me to call after the weekend, but again with no guarantee that my penalty would not increase.
Honestly ridiculous communication, employees unable to provide any record of conversations, on top of it faulty online payment systems.

They've just started charging residents for parking in my area. just try getting a traders parking permit. I've paid for one but I swear it's just a new taxation. Now these parasites require me to get a letter on headed paper that I then have to bring to the damn council offices to get scanned. Zero human contact via phone. I'm feeling rather stressed about this god level fraud.

The worse council in the history of councils. Website is incredibly outdated and is in desperate need of updating. When I logged into my account it's says - 'Access has been revoked, please re-subscribe' Have re-subscribe same notification. I really did need any reason to despise Scambeth council anymore. But here we go! I wonder if one day this council will function for the community and not their pockets.

The lambeth council website is literally the worse council website I've ever used. I pay my council tax every month and choose "paperless" billing. I even got an email from them saying the council tax bill is ready. However when I logged in the website, it's BLANK under my service or my dashboard. The council tax bill is so high compared with what I paid when I lived in Ealing - yet the service level is incomparable. I tried to call them but was put on hold on 30 mins - how is this possible? Fix your website and have more staff

Up top - appreciate I am very much in the wrong for what I did: I totally accept I deserved a punishment befitting a fine.

To explain - I was passing through the borough on a way from Waterloo to a meeting. Was in a rush to cross the street, distracted, had no bins nearby - and flicked a cigarette. Now again, thats not cool - so apologise again.

BUT, at least 200m later I get caught up by some paramilitary looking member of the council, who flashes a badge and explains he saw my contravention.

Im compliant, so gave all my details. I kept asking how much the fine was but he wouldnt tell me. He finally printed it, handed it to me and scarpered. £375 ... £250 if you pay within 10 days ... £2500 if you fail to pay.

To pay online you have to manually enter a c60 character website - making it purposefully difficult to actually even pay. Bonkers!! We were next to a bin that was over flowing, with rubbish all over the street.

Everything thats wrong with this world! Lambeth council opitimising how every organisation is looking to eek out every penny they can from whomever they can - whether its late fees, fines, interest ... whatever helps them top up their budget