Approach to Customer Care

We are already committed to communicating with our customers in different ways. Continued improvements are planned across these existing activities plus the introduction of new ways of engagement to ‘join the dots’ and enhance the care we provide to our customers.

What we do

Our interactions with our customers focus on our four themes in this strategy – to inform, to consult, to help, and to respond.  We use a range of different ways of communicating and activities to engage with our customers, and some examples of these are described below:

To Inform

• We provide information displayed on the Network, for all our road users to access as they make their journeys. This includes our fixed signage outlining speed limits, directions and distances, temporary signs where work is taking place on the Network, and Variable Message Signs giving the very latest updates.
• We also use online resources such as dedicated websites or social media. For example, the Gritter Tracker page provides live tracking of gritters on the Trunk Road Network, while Traffic Scotland has multiple mediums that it can provide information through.
• Our information helps our customers to understand how the Network is operating, what work we are doing and why we are doing it.

To Consult

• Our road user surveys provide us with a broad range of views and opinions to inform the management of the Trunk Road Network and identified current road user priorities and satisfaction levels.
• We also deliver specific scheme consultations where we go out into the communities neighbouring our Network or where proposed changes will impact on them, so we can test out options with our customers and build their views into our planning processes.
• Customers can also use facilities to notify us of issues on the Network, for example defects can be reported through our Customer Care Line.
• Our customers can use these interactions to report issues on the Network and provide feedback on our work.

To Help

• We provide information about what we do and how we do it to aid understanding of our services.
• We also encourage behaviours and measures that our customers should be considering for their own benefit as well as others. For example, we have an extensive road safety programme, and this delivers a range of campaigns through various forms, such as messaging through media platforms, Variable Message Signs, and sessions in the community.
• Other themes of benefit to our customers include the take up of Active Travel and responding to Climate Change.
• Our work in this area helps our customers to understand how to use our Network as safely and effectively as possible.

To Respond

• Our customers contact us using a range of methods, depending on their request and their preferred form of communication.  We can respond immediately to those calling on the telephone to our Traffic Scotland Customer Care Line and reply in a timely manner to queries via email or post.
• We also monitor and respond to questions or issues via social media.
• As our customer base is more than just individual road users, we also respond to politicians’ requests for information to support the governance of our service, and from businesses who need information to plan their activities.
• Our response to customers who enquire about our work will feel listened to and receive a response that they understand.

What we are already doing well

Within the Roads Directorate there are several existing processes, methods, and platforms in place to deliver effective Customer Care and strong progress has already been made in this regard.

Social media engagement is one aspect of Customer Care that has improved significantly in recent years, with Transport Scotland recognising the need to adapt to the additional customer demands and expectations that the advent of social media has brought. The Traffic Scotland Information Service has a large following on social media platforms, and we frequently engage with our customers via these, providing network updates and other relevant information.

Engagement with customers, both via social media and more conventional means, to provide accurate and informative updates regarding incidents or works that have a significant impact on the Network is something of which we are proud. With our partners, we aim to not only inform of such events, but proactively provide disruption updates and ensure the reasons for significant work and subsequent closures are effectively communicated and understood by our customers.

We have been engaging with our customers through a series of road user perception surveys for over a decade now. This enables us to ensure our business aims, objectives and targets continue to align with our customers’ priorities and expectations. As part of this survey, customers are also asked about the access, usage, and perceptions of the information we provide.

Additionally, we take pride in how effectively we respond to customer enquires within the required timescales that we have set ourselves. Performance in this regard is proactively monitored and significant efforts are made to ensure that we are considered a responsive organisation, that cares about resolving our customer’s unique queries and issues relating to the Network, whenever possible.

Progress has been made with respect to ensuring a collective responsibility to delivering excellent Customer Care is adopted, not least through the operational and maintenance activities undertaken by our OCs. They have a significant focus on Customer Care through designated roles, regular monitoring, and reporting, developing innovative solutions for improving customer care and ensuring overall customer satisfaction. These are all vitally important given the level of direct interaction between our OCs and our customers. Ensuring that these contractual requirements are delivered is a key focus for our Customer Care approach.

We recognise that it is important that we build on these practices that are already established and continue to adopt a proactive, forward-thinking approach towards developing the service provided to our customers.