Letters

Thank you for highlighting the problem with car parks increasingly accepting only smartphone payments (‘Question of the Fortnight’, Issue 633, page 10). If this happened in our nearest town, it would rule out any shopping visits by us, and just at a time when shops are crying out for customers. As a pensioner, I can’t afford a smartphone – at about £500 it would just be a waste of money. It feels that we have been ostracised by society and one has no place in it without embracing the latest technical kit.

Richard Ives

It was encouraging to read your backing of the campaign against ‘digital discrimination’. Last year, I worked for a government department that required everyone in England and Wales to complete a form, and it was proudly announced that it was “going digital”. But a large number of mostly elderly people didn’t want to go down this route and requested a paper copy, as was their right.