Kingston Royal Borough Council Reviews 

Misleading car parking sign and over eager parking fine

Worst company in history and their parking wardens are not smart. The wardens based in Kingston might aswell be considered deaf. I stopped due to emergency as i was coughing and I was sent a PCN through the post. i will not stop until my case is resolved. i have paid to avoid any additonal fines, but i want a full refund on this and will be going to the courts for this.

Issues PCN charges for fun and fail to cancel them when they are clearly in the wrong.

A council tax officer that knocks the phone down during a phone call... that's a new low!

LUDICROUS SITUATION WITH KINGSTON UPON THAMES COUNCIL-to renew a library book from my local Surbiton Library,I now have to phone the council.listen to 7 lengthy options,choose one,listen to another 2 options,then I am put through to a Kingston Council staff member who then puts me through, by phone, to Surbiton Library!!!!Wow!This decision was certainly not taken by anyone with a modicom of common sense.There are at least 4 staff members at my brilliant Surbiton Library,all intelligent,all able to answert the phone,not over-worked,and able to renew a book.

After a long journey from Wiltshire on Easter Saturday my wife and I arrived at my son and his wife's house in Kingston Upon Thames . My wife suffers from middle to late stage Alzheimer's and we were making a visit for us, particularly her, to see our three young grandchildren and witness them enjoy getting Easter eggs and having fun. These journeys will not be possible soon, as my wife's condition declines further but the advice from professionals at the time was to attempt a normal life for as long as possible.
So, upon arrival in Kingston my wife was very confused wasn't sure where she was and was agitated too, being urgently in need of the bathroom. My son immediately and naturally recognised her distress, prioritised the situation and took his mother to the bathroom to avoid an accident. He then took a few moments more to calm her and settle her into a chair. This took about 15 minutes in total and he then immediately activated the obligatory residents parking permit. He and I then went to the car to unload the luggage and discovered that a PCN had been issued just 5 minutes after our arrival -by a traffic enforcement officer who must have been lurking or, at very least, over enthusiastic. He must have witnessed our arrival. Naturally, we immediately appealed the PCN along with the plea for mitigation in the circumstances. That was refused and we followed the prescribed process, over time, to make further representations, but they too were refused despite an offer of medical evidence from our GP to support our plea for mitigation, which the council refused to receive. All of these courses of appeal failed and there was not a glimmer of understanding or empathy for the situation. I was compelled to pay the £140 fine. I then wrote to the Chief Executive of the council and my MP followed up as well. But, as before, a complete refusal from RBK to move one iota from their dogmatic unempathetic attitude with the only response
being that of repetitive immovable policy statements, dogma and diatribe.
RBK Council is a local authority totally focussed on securing revenue for its coffers on the basis of "Catch everyone, no matter what" The parking team I found to be a totally uncaring team of individuals with no compassion or understanding. A complete bunch of poorly trained "jobsworth" officers, certainly not serving the best interests of the elected councillors and their respective constituents.
Generally, there is a lot of understanding in businesses, organisations and institutions when it comes to people with disability like my wife and those in similar cognitive or physical compromised situations. Unfortunately, not the case at all in this local authority. Shame on them !
Beware is the message to anyone in a similar position who enters the domain of this awful uncaring money grabbing Council. You'll find no empathy there.

Making money from some yellow box cameras that are nowhere else in Europe. Preying on unsuspecting victims. Shame

I’ve received three PCN tickets for driving down Crescent Road in Kingston, an area that is very poorly signed and confusing for drivers unfamiliar with it. The signage is unclear, and it genuinely feels like the setup is designed to catch people out rather than guide them properly.

When I tried to raise the issue, I was met with arrogant and unhelpful behaviour from the council — no willingness to listen or consider the unfairness of the situation. It’s incredibly frustrating that instead of addressing poor road design and inadequate signs, Kingston Council seems more interested in generating revenue through fines.

Very disappointing experience overall — this feels like a trap for motorists rather than fair enforcement. I’d strongly urge others to be cautious around Crescent Road and hope the council takes responsibility for fixing the signage and improving their customer service.

Kingston Council is a total scam. They take your money and give you nothing in return. Useless, lazy, impossible to contact, and completely uninterested in helping residents. Roads are broken, services are a joke, and all they care about is finding new ways to fine or charge you.

It’s like they exist only to steal from the public. Absolute embarrassment of a council.

Moving to this borough after living a few boroughs across London, realised this possibly is the worst, on care, bureaucratic and inconsiderate, greedy too. Dealt with a few departments for a few different matters, shocked by it appalling service, e.g it took them a few months to reply and simple enquiry via email, on other occasions, never bothered to reply me. They even charge delivery fee for delivering the rubbish bin, which is unheard from other councils. Neighbouring borough Wandsworth collect half amount of the Council Tax for the same size property, but did much better job. I know they don't care! never!

I reported a fly tipped mattress via their website and within ONE HOUR it had been cleared! Incredible.

Yesterday morning my neighbour told us that there was a very dead cat on our front lawn
I phoned Kingston council environmental health department only to be told that as it was on private property as opposed to the road or pavement they were unable to deal with it.
They advised me to contact pest control- but Kingston no longer have a pest control department!
I told them as both my husband and myself are disabled and housebound we were unable to deal with it ourselves. All to no avail!
After phoning Cats Protection League and being told they were unable to help I eventually phoned a local vet, Vets for Life on the Brighton Road and they were wonderful and collected the poor little thing within a couple of hours without any fuss. Unfortunately it was not microchipped.
What do we pay our council taxes for?!
They empty our waste bins every week from our property so why not a poor dead animal who was a health hazard on our lawn?
Shame on you Kingst Council.

As long-standing adult social care providers in this borough, we feel morally compelled to expose the appalling conduct we’ve endured at the hands of the borough's Quality Assurance Team. What we’ve experienced is not merely unprofessional — it’s a sustained pattern of intimidation, deception, and cover-ups. Leading this disturbing culture is Michelle T. Murray, a senior officer who has repeatedly misrepresented her authority, at times presenting herself as a CQC inspector in what can only be described as a deliberate attempt to instill fear and compliance. It’s time those in positions of power took a closer look at how this team operates behind closed doors.

The town is horrible outdated. Would not come back

This is the worst borough making money out of drivers for parking/fines - don't send letters out but quick to put the fees up and 6 months to fund the pockets don't care about the people working/living in the borough.
Very disappointed the way the Kingston Council
treats people

DO NOT GO BY CAR TO THIS BOROUGH AS THEY USE VISITORS AS A CASH COW USING PCN LIKE ENTRY TICKETS TO FILL THEY BUDGET! WORST PARKING RESTRICTIONS AND USING PCN AS MONEY MAKING .

Parking permit applications impossible to navigate. Required fields not working, no contact available, you need to submit a separate question each time and they take a week to reply. Shockingly bad

I have complained for over 3years about health and safety to kingston council housing for older and vulnerable people. There housing officers don't like the truth so they won't reply to emails texts and telephone calls,they blank you. The so called housing officers make up false reports to suit themselves. They even made false claims to the local police.To get me arrested.How low can people get,lower than a snake's belly in kingston council's case. SO BEWARE.

Angela has been a great help after speaking with many different advisors Angela was excellent, helped me all the way during a very stressful period. THANK YOU ANEGLA