State Member for Wallsend, Ms Sonia Hornery MP, has called on Minister for Customer Service, Victor Dominello MP, to apologise to local residents for the lack of information following the temporary closure of the Wallsend Service NSW Centre.
Ms Hornery received a number of calls, emails and messages late yesterday and last night following the sudden closure of the Centre yesterday. A notice buried deep down on the Service NSW website was put up late yesterday about the temporary closure, but no notice or information was communicated to Ms Hornery’s office or to the public via social media.
Water damage to the communications room at the centre was detected at about 3:30pm on Tuesday afternoon. The Centre was immediately closed and staff directed customers to the Warners Bay and Newcastle Centres.
Ms Hornery has called on the Minister to apologise for the lack of adequate customer service shown to local residents following the closure.
Quotes attributable to Member for Wallsend, Sonia Hornery
“The Minister for Customer Service needs to apologise to very upset local residents who went to the Centre late yesterday only to discover it was closed and they would have to go to Warners Bay or Newcastle.”
“A number of people who contacted me were upset because their licence expired at midnight last night and because they couldn’t get to Warners bay or Newcastle in time yesterday afternoon, will be forced to take a taxi this morning to renew their licence at Warners Bay.”
“One woman who contacted me will have to not only take a taxi, but will have to give up a day’s work today because she is unable to drive due to her licence expiring. If information was up on the website or via their social media late yesterday, she could have made it to one of the other Service NSW Centres in time.”
“In a day and age where information is so easy to disseminate, the distinct lack of information from the Minister and his Department is very disappointing.”
“He should apologise to local residents. Pretty poor customer service, Minister.”