So I rang 0845 7555555 again and went through thus usual palaver of them not being able to find the account on their system before I was transferred to a supervisor. I asked her for the direct dial telephone number before she transferred me through, which she gave me before … cutting me off!

I rang the number she had give me which was, of course, the wrong one. I managed to get yet another number from this department to ring which was 01202 648773 and I rang them.

No apparent notes on their system. After a few minutes, the woman took all my details, gave me a case reference and said that someone would call me back within 48 hours and hopefully find out what had happened to those cheques.

I asked why my account had not already been credited with the money given that they had acknowledged receipt of the cheques and that it was clearly their problem and not mine if they chose to lose them. She said she would put a note to that effect on the case notes…

In September, one of these window-lickers had a laptop stolen from the boot of a car which had been left overnight.

Then last month, two CDs full of sensitive data were lost in transit between Newcastle and Edinburgh.

And now, these complete and utter incompetents have managed to lose the details of 25,000,000 child benefit recipients.

“Revenue and Customs says it does not think the records – names, addresses, date of birth, national insurance numbers and bank accounts – have fallen into the wrong hands.”

Thank goodness for that: I can rest now. Erm. Er. How do they know this? And given their evident monumental stupidity, why should any of us treat anything they say with anything other than complete contempt?

The Chairman of HMR&C has resigned, saying:

“But I am extremely proud of what all of you in the organisation have achieved during my time as deputy chairman and chairman.”

Good for him! He can indeed be proud of their fantastic achievements in being unable to do anything as simple as transport a CD or two around or keep a laptop safe…