A Bristol director has condemned the city council's Business Rates department – after he tried and failed to pay them some money back.

Stuart Hayles, a director with Elixir Leisure Ltd, a firm which is based in Midland Road and runs The Retreat and Flamingos nightspots in Old Market, wanted to pay back an overpayment of £440.

But an automated phone service got the better of him and he gave up after 27 attempts.

Mr Hayles said: "If you call the council, you get put through to an automated service.

"After going through all the options, you eventually get through to business rates, but the phone rings until a message asks you if you would prefer a call back rather than hold on the line.

"If you choose option 1 for a call back, no matter what time you enter, it tells you that the time is not available.

"If you don't choose option 1, it tells you that you have selected an invalid option and cuts you off, or repeats the process.

"I tried to get through to Business Rates and gave up after 27 attempts. I thought that it was just me having the problem, but at a recent networking event for businessmen in Bristol, I discovered that nearly everyone at the event had had similar problems.

"I called BCC main switchboard to complain and received a phone call back with the excuse that they are a very busy department and that they are aware that the callback part of the phone system does not work, but cannot fix it because there is no one to answer the calls anyway.

"Even if you call the main council number and asked to be put directly through to Business Rates, you get put through to the same automated service."

"Try it yourself – the number is 0117 925 0981 and see if you can get through."

Mr Hayles was trying to pay back £440 which appeared as a payment made on this year's bill.

He had paid the sum by credit card over the phone to clear a monthly payment from the previous year's bill.

A city council spokesman said: "We wish to apologise for any inconvenience this customer experienced, and to any others, who may have tried to contact us by phone during a period of high demand.

"Our aim as an authority is to deliver a first-class service and we are making ongoing improvements which allow us to deal with a high volume of calls more quickly."