Imade two journeys recently — one in my car and the other on a bus — during which new technology designed to eliminate the human factor rather proved the point that people work best.

The first was on June 15 when, on a drive back from Winchester, I stopped to fill up with petrol. The service station I chose was the Esso garage next to the Tesco store in Marcham Road, Abingdon. The time was about 10.30pm, which I mention because this will serve to identify to his bosses an employee who dealt very rudely with me.

Most of the pumps were coned off and out of use. Those that weren’t required payment by card. Now, I normally avoid these, as I do self-scanning checkouts in supermarkets. But I was quite low on fuel and the instructions did look simple: 1) insert card and key in pin number; 2) follow instructions on screen; 3) pick up receipt.

Now 3) was important to me, since I am required by the tax authorities to submit fuel receipts with the mileage claims on my expenses. It was therefore annoying to find no receipt forthcoming. No paper, I guess.

Though the service station doors were locked, there was a man inside who could clearly hear my repeated request for a receipt. He continued about his business and utterly ignored me.

On journey two, on an Arriva 280 bus to Thame, we were treated throughout the journey to recorded messages telling us which stop we were at and which came next. These ceased abruptly at Thame Library, one stop short of our destination, Thame Town Hall. Odd, we thought, until we saw another 280 approaching from a road to the left, which is not usually on the route.

I smelt a rat. “Is this bus going on into town?” I asked the driver. “No, it’s closed; you have to get off here. The next stop is about a mile away.” This was a mile we so very nearly had to walk.