The world nowadays seems to be run by automation and this was brought home to me when my home telephone went wrong.

My trustworthy British Telecom phone could not receive calls or allow me to make calls and I was in trouble.

I have never given in to using a mobile phone as I value my privacy and space.

But when my daughter tried to obtain the help of a British Telecom engineer, there appeared to be no possibility of talking to an actual person to explain that her mother was 75 years old and undergoing daily radiotherapy treatment for throat cancer at the hospital.

Furthermore, other family members needed to know if help was needed to ferry me to the hospital.

My phone urgently needed repairing but someone told her, on a friend's mobile phone, that it would be seven days before the repair could be done.

The same person admitted there was a fault between the junction box and my house.

Please, can't British Telecom employ actual people in their customer services department - somebody we can speak to and get a sensible answer from.

-Mrs M Sansford, Hove