there are ways sometimes around these queues....
Taken from The Times... Paul English, an American...
He has extended his research to Britain and has found that simply pressing zero several times in quick succession will circumvent the answering systems of many institutions, including American Express, Bank of Scotland, Barclays, BUPA, the DVLA, NatWest, NHS Direct and Sky.
Sometimes the trick is to ignore the recorded instructions and press nothing. Some systems will then assume that you don�t have a touch-tone phone and will put you straight through to a live operator. According to Mr English, such systems include Carphone Warehouse, Onetel, Southern Water and Virgin Holidays