A COLD caller gave staff no marks for 'welcoming ambience' at Hawkshead's Lake District National Park Authority information centre.

The statistic alarmed some members of the authority's visitor services committee, and raised questions about the 'snapshot' method of assessing the information centres at Hawkshead, Grasmere, Coniston, Bowness, Waterhead, Seatoller, Glenridding and Pooley Bridge.

Dr Helen Jones said she was "alarmed" to see Hawkshead's zero score for ambience.

Nicky Wood, information centres manager, said: "Any survey can pick up someone on a bad day, but that's what our customers are receiving, so we've got to aim to be on the ball all the time."

Coun Colin Davies said: "I wonder if it's possible the inspector had an off-day.

Nought is a pretty damning score, but it could be the person who assessed needs to be assessed, or needs to be questioned about why the score was so low.

Was it that the door was locked so they couldn't get in?"

Members heard that officers shared some of the concerns, and the future of the survey - carried out by the Anstruthers Consultancy - is to be discussed later this month.

Average scores for centre presentation, dealing with people, interpretation and communication, promoting understanding, telephone inquiry and mailing response were:

l Glenridding 91 per cent.

l Grasmere 88 per cent.

l Waterhead 85 per cent.

l Seatoller 84 per cent.

l Coniston 83 per cent.

l Pooley Bridge, Hawkshead and Bowness, all 80 per cent.

The average for all national parks in England and Wales is 86 per cent, compared to 84 per cent in the Lake District.

As a result of the 2000 survey, efforts will be made to provide parking bays for disabled drivers close to Bowness Bay and Pooley Bridge information centres.

Foreign language leaflets will be displayed or advertised well, and the family of national parks will be highlighted.