British Government Discriminate against Technifobes

I'm afraid the days of not having a smart phone and not having accessible email have gone.

I have a friend, only in his early 50's, and incidentally a real Banker, works in the City.
At home he has no smartphone, no wifi, no TV, no laptop, no microwave, no central heating, etc.
(and unsurprisingly, no partner)

He has fended off all offers of technical help for the last 25+ years, however since lockdown has forced him to work from home, he was given a company laptop, which without wifi was of course useless.

His company, at the highest level, with 20,000 + employees then looked at those that could not technically work from home, (single figure number apparently), and declared they were in 'digital poverty' and sent in the IT department.
In a single day he has Wifi, laptop, smartphone, a personal email address, Zoom calls, he now spends hours on new things such as YouTube, Google maps, news sites and all the other things most of us discovered 20+ years ago.

The bottom line is self imposed 'Digital Poverty' is no longer an excuse.
If you are illiterate or destitute, or mentally or physically limited in some form, then you should be getting professional help.
 
I hope it works out for your friends. They are lucky to have a friend like you.

IF they travelled out of UK against government advice I would be surprised if they got much help from the authorities.
 
My mother, my wifes mother and father are computer illiterate. It's a shame but they never learnt when computers became affordable and easier to learn and to stubborn to learn now.
Personally i never wanted a smart phone, until I had a flat tyre on motorway, I changed the tyre myself, but wanted the flat repaired not to drive on temporary, fortunately I was with my daughter, she found tyre shop in Luton, within an hour all sorted, i then brought a smartphone.
 
I suppose once you hit the ripe old age of 70+ and not digitally enhanced you should stay at home wrapped in warm blankets with a hot drink and not bother confusing your self with mobile phones. 🤣🤣

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A similar case is my friend who works for a satellite manufacturer, he is computer literate through his work but has no computer or internet at home so as he has now to work at home the company supplied the laptop and a mobile phone to connect to the internet.
His hobby is telephony but using the old style dialup telephones that he has installed throughout his house using an exchange installed in the garden shed.
Naturally he is single vegetarian!
 
Not that its really the case here but it did seem quite fashionable at one time to "not do" computers and be quite proud of it but no one would be proud of not being able to read.
In this case I don't see it as descrimination I don't think it's possible to buy seats on budget airlines by post it's just the way the world's moved on.
 
There's been a pandemic now for 10/11 months so why are they even travelling? They should either have listened to what was going on and got back sooner or should now stay put and then wouldn't have to worry about the on-line forms. In the middle of the worse catastrophe we've seen in decades they want things handed to them on a plate or else they're 'discriminated against' - well, sorry but life's not like that at the moment. Time to get real.
 
Ukbandit said:
Okay so I have friends leaving Benidorm for Santander, and because they don’t have smart phones or email and internet access they are being discriminated by our own Government. Probably illegal and most definitely should be brought to account.
They can get the Covid test and get get a print out of it to take to the Port. But 48 hours before landing in the U.K. they must fill out a passenger locator form, only available for download or fill in online. After it’s filled in an email is sent to you with a QR code which is scanned at the port to tell them the requirement as been fulfilled, only then will you be able to board.
so if you don’t have email or any means of doing that your stuffed.
I rang the helpline at the .gov.uk site and asked what procedure there was for people who do not have the facilities. Astonishingly there isn’t one and when I asked her why and surely that’s discrimination against certain people she was embarrassed she couldn’t help.
Her suggestion was not to set off without doing it or they won’t be able to board, and maybe they will have a paper equivalent at the Port but she wasn’t sure if it was possible. Totally unhelpful from our own Government.
I rang the port at Santander and asked if they had a paper form for them to fill in, but it isn’t an option as the QR code as to be emailed back to you for them to scan. Her suggestion was to let someone else fill it in with their email address then print it off and give it to them before they set off for the airport. I pointed out that it as to be filled in 48 hours before arriving in the U.K. and they are travelling from Benidorm to Santander for 2 days before arriving at the Port let alone the U.K.
I managed in the end to get an email address for them so the form can be filled in after they have left Benidorm. A note will be attached to the booking reference so when they arrive the booking staff can retrieve the email and allow them to board. It’s been very hard trying to get information from anybody but I finally managed to get a work around.
Why should we have to go to all the trouble to sort out a mess the Government haven’t provided for. It would be very interesting to be fined for not filling the form in then going to court for refusing to pay the fine, it would make them look stupid.
All it needs is for this facility which the kind person at the Port suggested we do, to be put on the .gov site under the heading “what to do if you don’t have an email address”
Bloody reprobates haven’t got a clue.
Sorry it’s a long post but it might be interesting reading and may help someone who finds themselves in a similar position.
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Its not Tom by any chance Graham ?

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On our local TV this morning there was an interview with a border control officer.She advised that most people travelling into the UK comply to the track and trace paperwork and show a negative covid test certificate But,there are some that don't.She said some refuse to advise where they are staying and just pay the fine ,some also refuse to have a covid certificate but they can't refuse them entry,as"they have a right of passage into the UK", .I assume that was for UK passport holders.
You would have thought that at least they would have confiscated their passports,she said they have their details and will report them to the police ,but they don't necessarily have an address.She was not happy with the situation but she had to comply with the regulations.She would have preferred that everyone is quarantined in a hotel ,like Australia. :unsure:
 
My mum did well picking up computers.
In the early days she did delete win.exe because he knew it wasn’t a file she had put on her computer 😳🤪
But she was soon teaching over retirees how to use word processors, spreadsheets, etc.
Don’t think my dad uses one though. He is a technophobe when it comes to computers specifically.
As an engineer this is just because of his generation and mum doing the PC stuff already.
 
The Wino said:
Not that its really the case here but it did seem quite fashionable at one time to "not do" computers and be quite proud of it but no one would be proud of not being able to read.
In this case I don't see it as descrimination I don't think it's possible to buy seats on budget airlines by post it's just the way the world's moved on.
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When the Duxette worked for the local authority her manager was not computer literate. The solution provided by the LA was a full-time assistant to print off the incoming emails and type the manager's outgoing emails. No wonder they waste so much of our Council Tax.

Sadly some people shouldn't be travelling if they can't comply with new restrictions that require basic IT / smartphone skills.

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My aunt is 92 and will frequently use both her ipad and iphone, in fact her notification to have the covid jab was recieved via text and email on her iphone. She has zoom calls with her freinds and relations. I really do not understand why anyone in the 21st century does not have or use technology to make their lives simpler.

Mick

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Brains yes IT can frighten some people , I spent 5 hours yesterday converting files extensions for a neighbour who is passing the treasurers files for a club to another frightened person, this one cannot open Open Office files with Microsoft office...any way I was given an external drive that despite many tries, by the owner, with many usb cables , would not work.... they forgot it needs a 12v supply as well....now all perfect......ARGH :banghead::swear::hot:
 
Screenshot_20210124-111445.png

Jimbohorlicks said:
Are you back home now Graham?
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Not just yet Jim, probably enjoying the free breakfast (y)
 
tuscancouple said:
My aunt is 92 and will frequently use both her ipad and iphone, in fact her notification to have the covid jab was recieved via text and email on her iphone. She has zoom calls with her freinds and relations. I really do not understand why anyone in the 21st century does not have or use technology to make their lives simpler.

Mick
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Hi Mick my mum is 86 and uses both iPad and smart phone too, but if others can’t do it does that mean they are beyond our help?

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I think how youve worked round it and sorted is great and they are lucky to have you so I am guesiing they have no other family or friends ro speak of out there or here ?

Do I think its discrimination, no. its been said about how they (the gov) have been caught out and how many people get themselves out in a MH all that way without any form of digital comms ability whatsoever must be miniscule .

Same as possibly braille users, may have been left behind and made to rely on friends/family/hotels/internet cafes/friends in a similar way. But even that Id say there would be more braille users than OAPs who "just dont have a digital side" at all "

Points to note, you dont have to do it 48 hours before, it is UP to 48 hours before, you just cant submit it BEFORE 48 hours, in fact you can fill in the from 7 days before at any place you find a connection or public PC and just submit it when you leave, it will save for 7 days.

SO this option may be handy for the few that really dont have any other option of digital connection such as libraries, internet cafes, free internet at port/hotel even shops now with print facilities.

Another note you dont have to have a regular email, there are lots of free "one off" emails you can use if you dont want a "full time" one, like gmail, yahoo etc.

But If I were in their shoes, Id get some form of digital access to avoid similar in future. Are you serioulsy saying they dont have a government gateway ID even to do with pensions etc or not even any form of connection? , if so they will find things harder and harder. What if they had broken down for instance in the sticks ? or need hospital attention are they geared up for that ?

As for you calling another member a "banker" for his opinion is a bit OTT ! but you were obvs upset looking at your responses to posts here.
 
Out of interest, how do they get their ferry tickets?

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