A computerised helpline used by hundreds of thousands of people wanting to make complaints or get information on Council services has come under fire for being too impersonal.

Bradford Council's Liberal Democrat Group leader Councillor Jeanette Sunderland said the computerised system was "confusing and difficult to use".

The group is calling for a full review of the system to make it more efficient and user-friendly.

At the moment the 3,500 people using the service each week to discuss such services as street lighting and cleansing are greeted with a recorded voice.

They are then guided to other lines using their touchtone telephones.

But if people wait until the options end they can speak to a human operator.

Coun Howard Middleton (Liberal Democrat, Bolton) said the system had been the subject of many complaints at Undercliffe Neighbourhood Forum.

"Worried people with problems want to talk to a human being immediately, not press buttons at the instructions of a computer," he said.

"The current system is confusing and difficult to use. Elderly people and those who are hard of hearing find it particularly troubling."

Coun Sunderland has written to director of housing Patrick Howley listing complaints she has received that the system is impersonal and makes the Council seem remote and uncaring.

People also feel it takes too long to navigate through, running up a bill many users of Council services can ill afford.

But chairman of the Council's housing services sub committee, Coun Jim O'Neill, said the system had been brought in as an efficiency measure.

"You can actually get through to the operator but the Council has appointed a senior officer to review the technology.

"We are constantly reviewing our systems to try to give an even better service to the public," he said.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.