Need smartphone to park?

faringdon

Hi,
I have a dumbphone and a laptop with a mobile router which are on EE contract.
I have a smartphone, which i occasionally  use on pay-as-you-go with O2 (its locked to O2 and cant be unlocked despite what they say) , but to be honest, i am not too hot at using the smartphone. (wrong generation, now 56 years old).

Anyway, i need to go to Reading centre for interview at 1430 on tuesday. All the car parks in reading centre are now smartphone only.

Eg the riverside car park in central reading.

How are people supposed to pay if they dont have a smartphone?

How are people supposed to pay if theyve just had their smartphone stolen?

How are people supposed to pay if their smartphone battery is flat?

Sorry to put this forward but its getting like you dont exist unless you have a smartphone.

I cant actually access my gmail from my smartphone......i often use my smartphone by logging in to my laptop mobile router.....when i try and log into gmail, it askes me to "sync"...and then gives me a message saying "sync is not currently working".

So i believe all these parking apps require one to have an email account?...but i cant access that from my smartphone......i have the gmail app......or at least i think i do.....but it often just closes down and tells me its closed down.

My smartphone  has a different number than my dumbphone. I used to just ring a number on my dumbphone and park like that...but in many car parks you cant now do that.

Emmia

At 56 you're not too old to learn to use a smartphone.

gallifreyangirl

I believe queens road  or Chatham street in reading you can pay by card. 

elsien

Ridiculous to say that you’re the wrong generation for a smart phone. Especially when you say that you’re an engineer so not exactly a stranger to technology. 

Aside from which yes there are some car parks which are app only but most have alternative methods such as contactless/paying by card. Or booking in advance online. Or, in the case of my local hospital, if you forget to pay while you’re there, you have up until midnight to go online to make a payment, 
Although I agree there should still be a cash option as well where practicable.

Alanp

Crikey, I’m 65, and I use a smartphone no problem, just be aware that some  car parks ask you to use a QR code, there have been instances where scammers use their own codes to get you to pay for parking , only to find you have been fined for not paying for your stay..

Mildly_Miffed

56 "too old"?
Do yourself a favour... You aren't a Victorian transported here through a wormhole in time - you were in your mid 30s when iPhones and Android phones were launched.

The fact you've chosen not to bother learning how to use a device you do own is precisely that - a choice. Choices carry consequences, in this case a bit of convenience.

I do have a smartphone, and have had one for years, but I've never used an app to pay for parking. I've simply never needed to. If I did, it'd be a mild inconvenience, but no great drama.

Oh, and the Oracle Riverside car park in Reading allows you to pay on foot using a card.
https://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/carpark/the_oracle_riverside/rg1/reading/
https://www.theoracle.com/getting-here

A short walk away, there's a council car park that takes cash.

https://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/carpark/civic_b/rg1/reading/
or a car park that's half the price of the Riverside, and takes card.
https://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/carpark/saxon_court/rg1/reading/

twopenny

It's no crime not to have a smartphone and not to want one.
I can't see why in this day and age they can't offer more than one way to pay. My friend had a problem when her card had been blocked without the bank telling her, the app wouldn't download. Elderly lady. They insisted on charging her for just being there  trying and had no sympathy 
And it seems there are such car parks as kind people have offered.
Good luck with the interview 

BlueonBlue

What you need to look into indepth is private parking who are scammers in a nut shell....vs council parking .
Bottom line is ONLY use council parking as linked to from the above poster .
Do it and do that only !!

The PPC,s design the parking system to fail so they can robo claim through the small claims track using bulk litigation debt collectors and solicitors often who are in bed with each other along with the appeal bodys .
Its unregulated .

 They will add on illegal costs and make it as bullish and stressfull BS as possible with up to 6 years to bring a claim hanging over your head .
They only are interested in the money absolutely no parking management takes place .
They  buy the registered keeper info .. ( they do not know who is driving so dont tell them Pike) ....costs £2.50 off the DVLA who also make millions x millions from it .

Its all about the money and a billion pound plus industry now .....so dont play .

As said use council parking only until you are better informed and/or can get by with a phone but even a smartphone wont help with private parking scammers as they will just make it up to profit .

Read the mse parking forum to find out more detailed info but until your informed use council parking .

lordmountararat

I'm 80 in a couple of months. I do have a smart phone, but the two times I have tried to use it to pay for for parking I have been fined. So I do have sympathy for OP.

BlueonBlue

Was that private or council parking.....?

Private parking is unregulated and comes under contract law 

They make 99% of everything up to illicit money.
 Its robo claim bulk litigation which means they prey on the low hanging fruit that pay up via threat and they are very good at it .

You dont pay them or listen to the lies .
You get help on mse private parking as some of the regular posters are experts at it .

user1977

faringdon said:

I have a smartphone

How are people supposed to pay if they dont have a smartphone?

How are people supposed to pay if theyve just had their smartphone stolen?

How are people supposed to pay if their smartphone battery is flat?

Sorry to put this forward but its getting like you dont exist unless you have a smartphone.

But you do have a smartphone, so what's the problem? Just use it.