I saw two words we all dread – what followed was credit card chaos

Oh, the mixed blessings of credit cards. When they work without snags or hitches, the world is an easier place to navigate. But when credit cards go wrong... or, far worse, go MISSING... they're a curse, pure and simple. The other week we put our main card into a bank's cash machine. It ate it. After much whirring, clicking, and messages on screen telling us to wait, it finally told us our card had 'been retained'. No reason given.

As it was a Friday evening, there was no possibility of going inside the branch and asking for it back until Monday morning at the earliest. Great. In fact, our bank's website advised us to cancel the card immediately, in case the ATM's slot had been tampered with so someone could see our card details, remotely, or retrieve the card when we'd gone.

(Indeed, it HAD been unusually difficult to insert and there WAS an odd looking man hanging about a few feet away in the shadows). So we duly cancelled it and with it, a whole series of automated payments - car parking, Sky subscription, health insurance – all of which would have to be painstakingly set up again when the replacement card eventually arrived six days later.

Sigh. I thought of all this needless kerfuffle this week when the high street bank regulator announced that it's lifting the mandatory £100 limit on 'tap and go' – paying for stuff without needing to enter a PIN number; your just flash the plastic and move on. Hmm. I think this is an extremely dodgy development. Scenario: you lose your card on a bus or train or wherever – or it's pick-pocketed from you – and you you're completely unaware for hours that it's gone. Or even days.

Assume someone's stolen it. They don't need your PIN number to use it now to spend above that previous £100 ceiling. They can go on flashing it merrily away until you realise it's gone, and cancel it. Potentially, your account could have been cleaned out by then. Yes, you may be able to recover your stolen money eventually but that's not guaranteed or going to happen at the click of your fingers.

However, I've just learned that some banks allow you to disable the tap-and-go function, so the card only works with its PIN. Call me paranoid, but that's exactly what I'm going to do. Who's with me?

Drivers too stupid to see reality

Richard has written this week about the issues surrounding panic petrol and diesel buying at the pumps. What he didn't have space to talk about is the extraordinarily ignorant behaviour currently being shown to forecourt staff.

Drivers clearly too stupid to understand why fuel prices are suddenly rocketing – it's the war with Iran and the tanker blockade in the Straits of Hormuz, you blockheads – are threatening, abusing and even attacking the poor saps who work behind the forecourt tills. They're accusing them of profiteering and lining their own pockets.

This is bone-headed beyond comprehension. Rather like the same kind of morons who, we learned this week, abuse road workers operating temporary traffic lights as they repair potholes, drains and underground power and communication lines.

What's happened to this country? Where has our grasp of tolerance and common sense gone? Why are so many seemingly permanently angry and ready to lash out at their fellow citizens at the slightest excuse? I despair, I really do.