A few days ago, I had to go emergency shopping, but had forgotten the pin of my card.

I opened Santander online banking on my laptop, and clicked through to the 'See PIN' option, and clicked it.

Suddenly, this showed up:

I am disabled and unable to use smartphones, so I have to use a Doro brand flip phone which can't download apps. A large portion of my friends are elderly and/or disabled people who also do not use smartphones. 

Many people also avoid smartphones due to personal reasons such as not wanting to use social media or be continuously connected to the internet.

In fact, 1 in 10 mobile phone users in the UK use a 'dumb phone' (this means a phone which is not a smartphone)!

So if you were to go onto a packed Boris bus, with an even population of phone users, about 8 people on average would not have a smartphone and instead a 'dumb phone'.

Does it make any sense to exclude these people who make up a good section of the population from daily life on the basis of not owning a complicated to use and expensive device?

This is what this petition seeks to achieve:

1. Make it a legal requirement for all businesses with physical operations in the UK, and systems on which businesses with physical operations rely on, to have everything completely accessible by both employees and customers either from a computer browser or in-person, with required in-person access for brick and mortar locations such as stores, airports et cetera.

This would mean that parking companies like Pay By Phone and RingGo would either have to allow you to text or call to pay, or have a physical payment machine available.

Banking would have to be accessible without a smartphone, by logging on to the internet or going to a physical bank. 

Shops would be forbidden from forcing you to scan a QR code or download an app to make purchases or do anything. 

2. Make it a legal requirement for all restaurants and cafes to have menus accessible either as printed out and visible to customers, or as a menu handed out to customers.

This would mean that a restaurant or cafe cannot force you to scan a QR code or download an app to view a menu.

3. Make it a legal requirement for all websites affected by the Online Safety Act doing age verifications to not require a smartphone for such verifications.

This would mean that if you wanted to view adult content and had to verify your age, you wouldn't need to download an app or open it in a phone browser to verify your age, and verification like face scans or ID scans would be usable with a webcam/laptop's inbuilt camera.

4. Make it a legal requirement for all public transport and taxi operators to not require a smartphone to book, view itineraries, and buy tickets.

This would mean that bus, train and tram operators would have to let you buy tickets on the spot, or by text (since no one really carries a laptop around), and taxi operators would have to let you call to get a taxi, or let you pay for the taxi ride on the spot.

5. Make it a legal requirement to forbid UK based businesses from forcing employees to have a smartphone on hand, smartphone apps such as whatsapp or snapchat or authenticators or constant mobile access to a web browser.

This would mean that companies can't require employees to have a smartphone, apps/programs only available on a smartphone, or have to carry around an internet enabled personal device at all times, so you can go to work without having to use a smartphone.


This is not an exhaustive list and I think I will update it with more bulletin points as I run into more challenges in my life and hear from other people.

If you want to contact me with your story or just chat about this petition or anything else please email me at stopforcingsmartphoneuse@gmail.com :)