Being denied entry because you dont have the track and trace app?

[Rudolphian]

I haven't downloaded the app due to personal reasons.
I have started hearing stories about people being denied entry to pubs/ restaurants and cafes because they havent got the app.
Is this true?
Now I'm wondering what I'd do if it came into work, or if I'm told its compulsory to have to go to the supermarket?
Pretty sure its not a legal requirement yet.

@CraftyGin

Don't understand why people are bolshy about using the app.

I worked in data analysis for the civil service for a year. I know what the government do with data, know how they group information together incorrectly and the assumptions they make about data. I know how they can fuck it up and I have no doubt they’re going to fuck this up. I trust 16 year old Kyle on his Saturday shift when he’s busy texting his crush to keep my details more secure than the government.

More than happy to leave my details with a venue, book online. Also, don’t give a shit if it’s less information that most people share on social media, I share very little on social media - no photos of my house, no photos of my car, my dogs name isn’t shared, no educational institutions are shared on my social media, no workplaces, no identifying groups that I follow. My name is really fucking common and my profile is on the highest privacy settings. I’m selective about what I share on social media. Just because other people aren’t as careful on social media, is not a valid reason to download the app.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

It takes SO long!! If there is a group of six doing this, it's not very fair on all the people queuing behind them is it?

Does everyone in the party have to scan the qr code or give their details now then? I've only ever given my details when I've gone out with DH.

Restuarant last night put the code on the table and you scan it once sitting down . They ask you if you have before taking your order.

You know what there are pages of information on this app online .

faq.covid19.nhs.uk/category/?id=CAT-01022&parentid=

Actually I can’t download it as I have an iphone6 but I wouldn’t even if I could. My dh has a phone which he has downloaded it to, so I’ll be ok if I go out to the pub with him. I may even take his phone if I’m going out by myself.

I will do everything that I have to do to reduce the spread of this deadly virus

Maybe be a bit more sympathetic to others who can't afford the latest tech?

Jesus, the slatings that posters get on here for being skint and daring to possess any kind of phone or tablet at all ...

It's not helpful.

[quote VivaMiltonKeynes]You know what there are pages of information on this app online .

faq.covid19.nhs.uk/category/?id=CAT-01022&parentid=[/quote]
All I was asking was if something had changed as someone commented how long it takes for 6 people to fill in their details. I've never given DH's details only mine so I was surprised

@Carrotgirl87

Think I'd rather go eat/drink at a place that does enforce no app no entry tbh, people who are compliant with the app are more likely to be compliant about social distancing etc whereas the small minority who give false names etc or think it's a hoax will 'vote with their feet' and go someplace else

Hmm. I kind of understand this but also hugely disagree unless you think its been mainly the elderly ignoring social distancing? as this app thing is MUCH more likely to hit older people. Yes I know some will be tech savvy, but thinking just of my family, my MIL (65), dad (60), FIL (68), aunt (78) and me (33) are the ones who do not have smartphones. Everyone else does, which is mainly the under 40s and my mum (55)

Yeah a few younger people will refuse on principle (which I also understand given the governments fuckups so far tbh) but if a lot of businesses block people who do not have the app, I cvan honestly see a challenge on this being ageist, as its most likely to be older people who cannot have the app, than younger who won't.

last weekend I scanned a QR code in Surrey and it checked me in over 200 miles away in area that was in local lockdown. I asked the staff and she said well I don’t know sorry. So now I’m waiting for a call, when I wasn’t even any where near the place, I kept the receipt and screen shots. I’m a bit wary of it all

Despite being appalled at the government response in many areas..if my phone had the capability I would use the app, proabbly more out of conveience than anything else in honesty. But I am unwilling to buy a new updated phone just for this. And as for the older people in my family? Its more..unable than unwilling tbh. I have only just now, after a year f trying, managed to get MIL to be able to send a basic text! A smartphone would have her totally baffled, I know it seems easy and just..common sense to many of us, but its like an alien invention to many many older people.

(apologies for typos, my laptop needs updating also really but cash doesnt allow)

We have had our Xmas meal cancelled, my very elderly mother wanted to eat out but has no mobile let alone a smart phone and having the app Is a condition of going there so we have to find somewhere else. She's got upset that this might be her last Xmas since my dad died so we were going to take her out as that is what she wanted to do.

I've not seen it, just pubs where you have to go on some website to scan in a QR code or give people your address.

@Mum2jenny

Actually I can’t download it as I have an iphone6 but I wouldn’t even if I could. My dh has a phone which he has downloaded it to, so I’ll be ok if I go out to the pub with him. I may even take his phone if I’m going out by myself.

Jesus, assumed this was just about very old phones, but iphone6 is classed as too old to be bothered with?!

[quote Carrotgirl87]@Danglingmod because the Bluetooth setting means I am notified if I am standing within 1m of a positive case for too long. Standing next to a man on the bus with an old phone doesn't guarantee me that safety net. [/quote]
Also, if this is how it works..I don't think I get it?

Because with SD rules, you wouldn't be within 1m of a positive case at all, nevermind for 'too long' (wndering what that time frame is now, besides just, walking past)

Anyway, fairly sure DH will get this as he can, same with DSC and sister. I would if I could, but not willing to spend hundreds to get it. So I accept I, along with the older members of my family, are effectively barred from many places for being..not well off or older. Lovely.

@redlockscelt as far as I understand it only the lead member of the party has to give their details or scan the code, not everyone.

There’s no way in hell I’d download that app. Quite apart from all the technical problems with it, just look at what the government is doing to students - basically imprisoning them without trial. It’s absolutely monstrous.

I think there’s a real danger that in a bit we’ll be seeing detention centres, ie imprisonment, for people who test positive or have been in contact with someone who has. That’s the logical next step for the deranged incompetent politicians in charge of us. So there’s no way I’d go anywhere near the app or a test now. Nor would I let my children download the app or get tested. I’m not having them treated like those poor students. What I’ve taken from the recent news is to keep well away from anyone who wants to test me or trace me or my family.

I think there’s a real danger that in a bit we’ll be seeing detention centres, ie imprisonment, for people who test positive or have been in contact with someone who has

Nothing about the app forces you to isolate.

I wish people would actually read the details before freaking out. It tells you if you've been in the proximity of a person with Covid for the amount of time that would make infection possible. It then advises you to isolate. But it's not compulsory by law, and no-one will check up on you, because (unlike the system of leaving your name and number) the app doesn't know who you are.

@Carrotgirl87

Think I'd rather go eat/drink at a place that does enforce no app no entry tbh, people who are compliant with the app are more likely to be compliant about social distancing etc whereas the small minority who give false names etc or think it's a hoax will 'vote with their feet' and go someplace else

But it isn't allowed! They HAVE to use a second method of contact tracing!

There are a lot of people who are very hard of hearing on this thread.

I have started hearing stories about people being denied entry to pubs/ restaurants and cafes because they havent got the app.
Is this true?^ -- Not in my experience, or yours, if you haven't actually been turned away from anywhere

We were nearly turned away from the place I mentioned above. The staff were convinced they could not legally let us in. We had booked by phone and had also been there earlier this month, when we gave our phone number. I think that's what finally persuaded them to let us in.

Our local pub lets us in without any fuss, but they know us there and have our phone number.

God knows restaurants are barely surviving now -- I don't know how they are meant to keep afloat when they have to turn away half their customers.

@BewilderedDoughnut

I saw several people turned away today for not having it.

At another place I was at, the people without the app were HATED in the line as they had to give all of their details individually which took forever. The people standing out in the rain waiting for them were not impressed. Everyone else scanned the QR code and were in in seconds.

It's selfish.

It's selfish not having a smartphone that is modern enough to be compatiable with the app - or indeed a smartphone at all?

Okaaaaayyyy.

Yet another stupid comment from an MNer about being "selfish".

'Don't understand why people are bolshy about using the app.'

Mainly because some people don't have smartphones at all, or don't have ones that accept the app; and many are reluctant or just plain can't afford to buy a new phone just for this purpose.

Dear god there are some people incapable of thinking further than their noses.

No I will not download the app and use it.

All this idea of it being 'selfish' not to download it, completely overstates what the app is actually capable of and how fucking flawed it is. It's ability to 'protect' you is massively overstated and that leads to a false sense of security which inadvertly will lead to people taking more risky behaviour than they otherwise would do. It's sheer number of 'false positives' isn't exactly helpful either.

In reality the app is a pile of shit that doesn't deliver on what its supposed to and really is a tool to force the population to be more likely to accept authoritarian tools to control them in the future.

The problem of the virus spreading is about how people can't afford to isolate and no one is addressing that. The app isn't going to change that. You are still going to have people working in bars and restuarants who are desparate for the money who just switch off their blue tooth and don't report symptoms on it etc etc.

I find it slightly hilarous that so many people think the app will make a significant difference apart from make them feel fuzzy inside for 'doing the right thing'. The app ultimately only appeals to those who are already compliant and think that everyone who isn't compliant is doing so purely because they are 'bad' people who are not willing to do something for the 'greater good' of society. Whilst forgetting that many people who are none compliant are forced into that position because society couldn't give two fucks about the greater good prior to covid aren't going to bail them out if they lose their home or have no food.

It doesn't matter what gadget you design - unless you back it up with a policy that sufficiently recognises and supports the real life struggles people are facing right now then you aren't really going to solve the problems currently going on.

I will quite happily will vote with my feet and go elsewhere if I'm told I can't go in somewhere - after I tell them that the app doesn't work on my phone and if they can't uphold the ICO's guidance about not making it mandatory. Bollocks to places like that - especially the ones who have staff on zero hours contracts...

Tbh for me its the principle of such an app, and the idea that we must be compelled to use it even though its a heap of crap - and who this marginalises thats my main reason for not using it. But I do find it telling how few people on this thread are REALLY thinking about how the app creates a two tier society and the little they think about scenarios of people not using the app properly.

Fuck that.

@saraclara

I think there’s a real danger that in a bit we’ll be seeing detention centres, ie imprisonment, for people who test positive or have been in contact with someone who has

Nothing about the app forces you to isolate.

I wish people would actually read the details before freaking out. It tells you if you've been in the proximity of a person with Covid for the amount of time that would make infection possible. It then advises you to isolate. But it's not compulsory by law, and no-one will check up on you, because (unlike the system of leaving your name and number) the app doesn't know who you are.

Yep good point

I love the idea that people think that the staff all walk around with their mobile phone in their pocket, switched on with the bluetooth eating their battery.

I love the idea that people think that everyone else who has downloaded the app is using it as intended.

I love the fact that people think that if you are in a venue which insists on people using the app that everyone in there is more compliant and therefore you are less likely to catch covid than somewhere which allows you to give your contact details in another form.

I love the fact that people genuinely think the app is going to make a significant difference to the spread.

I love the fact people are somehow forgetting that its not for use for under 16 year olds.

I love the fact that people think that this will somehow stop parties in back gardens which are a significant driver of the spread.

I love the fact that people think the app is more important that an effective proper track and trace system. Y'know a world beating one which can keep up for demand for tests so that people can then enter a positive result into their phone and tell all the people they've been sat in the restuarant with... oh wait... yeah.

Honestly, its like a mind warp where people go 'ahahaharrrrrrrrr i have a magic app shield. Now I can not catch covid and no one near me will have covid either. And this magic app will stop the spread of covid'.

Nope, its just another excuse to blame people for being 'selfish' or 'stupid' and beat them over the head with their affluent blinkers on.

The pub chain I work for, the app is optional and we have our own QR code which must be completed. If that doesn't work or people are unable to scan it for any reason we just do it for the guest on a tablet. This one has to be done whereas the app doesn't. We don't turn people away for not having the app.