IVRs (Interactive Voice Response) are automated computers that call centres use to answer phones. They ask a series of questions to which a verbal or button-pushing response is required before putting a call through to an operator, a waiting list, an answering machine or simply cutting the caller off.

While the idea of IVRs is excellent, and they can sometimes prove useful for busy switchboards, a lot of people get frustrated and desperate to speak to a human. Which is where the cheat sheet comes in - a website with information about how to confuse the computers at some of the UK's biggest call centres, including those run by banks and building societies, in order to speak to a human instead of a computer.