I hate these new 'pay to use the toilet' by mobile app.

I don't have a smart phone so have no apps

I don't have a mobile phone, so using an app's out. I'm also disabled and find climbing up flights of stairs to toilets (which there are in some cafes/restaurants locally) very hard going, and sometimes don't make it.

I will look into getting a radar key - then again, reading LadyInBlue comments on barriers with using radar keys, it seems I'll have to start lugging more Tena's around with me in case of emergencies...

ExDancer

I'm 85 and don't have a smart phone. At my age, when I want to 'go' I need to go NOW.
Wet knickers all the way home?

A few of my friends, like myself, in their mid to late 80's don't have a smartphone and even though I do have one and love technology, I refuse to scan apps, not even when they pop up on my laptop. Our local garden centre restaurant has a new policy, you are taken to your table, you scan the table app and then order the food on your phone and the waitress then brings it to you.

This is not for the convenience of the customer this is for the convenience of the staff. I just said, sorry, I refuse to use apps and left the restaurant.

Lovetopaint you will have different payment options if you use an app.
I don't use applepay

I may add, I have now removed the app for the toilet from my phone as I have found that different city toilets use different apps. It has also been stated that scammers are now sticking their own barcodes over the original barcodes so when you scan it, they take your money. I have now started going to a cafe, ordering a tea, having a sit down and then using their toilet, it costs me over £1 but it is stress free.

I'm 85 and don't have a smart phone. At my age, when I want to 'go' I need to go NOW.
Wet knickers all the way home?

Astitchintime

I have a Radar key so have access to disabled toilets but I also agree that all public conveniences should be free to use.

I would never see someone struggling to find change or having difficulty using an App to access the loo - I would happily discreetly open the disabled toilet for them providing no there disabled person was waiting to go in.

Radar keys are fine but many of the toilets in bus stations and train stations have a barrier to get through before you access the toilet and the bar code is on the barrier so you have to scan your app over the bar code before you can get in so the Radar key becomes useless as you have paid by phone before getting to the toilet door.

My DH used to work at Euston House. He says they took away the charges for the mainline station toilets because of complaints about the smell around the outside stations where people had urintaed. Apparently, that solved the smelly problem.

Well happily I haven't encountered any of these yet. This is what puts me off going into London as I assume this is where they are, or possibly they are being put all around the country. I don't pay for parking by app unless as a last resort.

I have a Radar key so have access to disabled toilets but I also agree that all public conveniences should be free to use.

I would never see someone struggling to find change or having difficulty using an App to access the loo - I would happily discreetly open the disabled toilet for them providing no there disabled person was waiting to go in.

I’m very wary of paying for parking via my phone after being scammed a few months ago . I was in the middle of the transaction and noticed a message pop up on my phone screen thanking me for my purchase of £2.60. A completely random amount that bore no relation to the parking charge which was £4.

I immediately sat back into the car to investigate. I phoned my bank’s fraud line and they confirmed £2.60 had been taken and a direct debit set up for the scammers to take a monthly payment. The bank call handler said the scammers often start with a very small amount to test and hope you haven’t noticed then come back to empty the account.

My card was immediately cancelled by the bank , I changed my passwords and no further harm done . Or at least I thought so till a few days later I received a parking fine of £60 because I left the car park as soon as I had spoken to the bank without paying the for the 20 mins of parking as my card was cancelled and I had no way to pay. The car park company didn’t accept they were responsible in any way for scammers intercepting the transaction while I tried to pay for parking. Thankfully they cancelled the £60 fine.

I’ve since read online that several people were also scammed, some losing hundreds of £ , while trying to pay for the car park. It’s scary how easily it can happen.

I now keep some pound coins in the car glove box and if the car park machines don’t accept cash I don’t use them.

I'm tired of waiting in queues because people cannot get signals on their phones, not their fault.
This is done for the convenience of the business, not the customer.

Councillors or station admins

Now all the station toilets are free because it was more expensive to administer than not.

Just so. You'd think councillors would cotton on.....

What?? The world really has gone crazy.

At my local city station they charged 5p for the loo on the concourse but people could use the ones on the platform for free.

Now all the station toilets are free because it was more expensive to administer than not.

We live in a crazy world. These phone apps are taking over and people seem happy to just let it happen.

If we all took down our knickers and threatened to wee on the floor like some men do they'd start to listen!

theworriedwell

Where I live you pay by contactless card.

Yes, I did that in a remote part of Scotland just recently.

Public toilets have to be paid for. Councils waste money on various virtue signalling projects instead of providing what they've already taxed people for like "public conveniences" as they used to be called.

I never minded "spending a penny" and I don't mind paying 50p to use a loo by card machine now. Apps aren't necessary, just a card that you can pay with. Yes, I know some places use an app but that shouldn't be necessary.

In some railway stations I've simply straddled over the barrier if there was only one option and I didn't have the "correct" coins.

Did spend a penny places ever conk out?

Technology can be great but not if it's not supported properly. And it's always the 'customer' who loses out. Humph.

Where I live you pay by contactless card.

I don’t mind using apps when I’m at home. But hate having to use them when I feel under pressure eg in a car park. I haven’t encountered them for public toilets and I would certainly class that as being under pressure 😳

How absolutely ridiculous. The toilets are now free in the London stations and our local one in Bromley. People needing the toilet have enough problems without adding another obstacle. It’s discrimination as there must be so many who don’t have a smart phone. In fact I have an iPhone but do not wish to set up Apple Pay. Don’t know how to pay otherwise.

TerriBull

Apps aside, I feel public toilets should be free.

I completely agree

How is it that when procedures and systems are "new and improved" they generate another layer of faff to make our lives a little bit more complicated?

Apps aside, I feel public toilets should be free.

Seems we’re being punished for others crimes. Toilets are a really hard one though. When you’re desperate, waiting for a code could be the difference between success and wishing you’d bought Tena pants.