Even if Debbie Harry had been left Hanging on the Telephone since Blondie first released the song back in 1978, she still wouldn’t have amassed the gargantuan profits our government now makes from using premium rate 0844 and 0845 as we pay through the nose to reach OUR services.

According to new figures from the National Audit Office – who have promised an urgent review into the use of such profiteering phone numbers for government departments – our calls to to speak to experts about our pensions, taxes or vehicle licences have generated a mind-boggling £52m in revenue in the last 24 months, and incredibly, over half of that was from those waiting for a real life person to answer their call.

It’s often the people who need help and support the most who are affected by the exorbitant pricing of these government numbers – those looking for help with debts or attempting to find a job via the Job Centre also have to call these premium rate numbers. I can still remember the days when you would attempt to call and get a simple engaged tone, which you didn’t get charged for. Now in 2013 you are likely to get a terrible piece of hold music and pre-recorded voice apologising for the delay – which can drag on for quite some time. Depending on how you have called the number, you might be paying up to 41p a minute for the privilege, as I recently learned to my considerable expense. I figured I would take care of an HMRC tax error on the way to work, and before I had even received my refund cheque, I’d got a mobile bill with an unpalatable £36 call for alerting them to their own mistake. These calls are considerable less at around 9p per minute from a BT line – but that’s still too much.

These days, before calling any premium rate number, I’ll visit the www.saynoto0870.com website. This site allows people like you and me to share alternative numbers that will get you through to a service. Behind every 0845 number will be a geographically based number, which would allow you to call for a much lower rate, or even inclusively from your mobile phone tariff. Somewhat inexplicably, government departments routinely change this unpublished number to stop us from saving money.