THE surge in the scourge of political correctness over the past few years drives most of us potty and since I help a 94-year-old who is partially blind and gets confused with telephoned business with day to day pursuits.

Paying bills one would have thought would not offend against the PC brigade code but you would be wrong.

I attempted to pay over the telephone my friends utility bill but as soon as the operator found I was not the named person on the bill head things got complicated because I was not allowed to read my friends card details without her consent.

The fact that she had obviously given her consent to pay the bill pertaining to her own household, cut no ice.

I must speak to the house owner I was told in order for her to confirm that she will allow me to pay the bill on her behalf.

If I was a notorious serial bill payer I would have passed the phone to my partner in crime sitting opposite me, who might also be an accomplished criminal bill payer asking her to pretend she was the house owner.

So the whole exercise was pointless, humiliating and time wasting, the utility company will only get paid now when the final demand falls on the doormat running up an administrative bill for themselves which may hopefully well exceed the original sum.

Barry Cope

Rodborough