It's OK if a robot pays my electricity bill – even if it can’t recognise a motorcycle - Vladimir McTavish

Although I am on the other side of the world, bills back home still need to be paid. In the past, this would have been something of a logistical nightmare. I would have had to get somebody in Edinburgh to open my post, and phone me to tell me the amount due. I would then have to go to a local bank and make an international payment over the counter.

It’s actually a robot that is asking me to prove that I am not a robot, says Vladimir McTavish

Thanks to modern technology, I am now able to pay my electricity bill just as easily as if I were at home.

In other words, with a great deal of difficulty. I got an e-mail from Scottish Power the other day to inform me that my latest payment is due.

In that e-mail was a link to log into my account, using my username, password and postcode.

Once I had logged into my account, I was then told that I would receive an e-mail to verify that I was the account holder.

So I the had to go back to my e-mail to follow a link to log back into my Scottish Power account to prove that I was the bone fide account holder.

I then had to tick a box confirming that I was not a robot. To prove this, I had to look at a number of images, and click on each one with a picture of a motorcycle.

Surely it’s only a matter of time before some hacker invents a robot that can tell which pictures have motorcycles in them.

Anyway, what is the point of all this needless security? If someone were to hack into my Scottish Power account, all they would be able to do would be to pay my electricity bill for me. In which case, please hack away.

Instead I have been sent around in circles having to log on multiple times. To prove I am who I say I am, I have to click on a number of pictures containing some randomly-selected items.

The irony in all of this, of course, is that it’s actually a robot that is asking me to prove that I am not a robot. Actually, I wouldn’t mind if a robot did pay my electricity bill. Even if it couldn’t recognise a motorcycle if it saw one.