My father, missing the camaraderie of office working, closed his consultancy to become a facilities manager for Racal Decca several decades ago. I learned a lot about the role plus the enormous stress he suffered trying to do what was needed with diminishing budgets and non-replacement of leavers - you have my sympathies if you’re in a similar position! Decades before that, unqualified in anything and struggling to feed a young family, he’d visited local pubs on Christmas Eve playing his accordion upside down (as he was left-handed) in the hope of raising enough to cover the cost of a chicken he’d been offered for the following day’s lunch. Since hearing that story, I’ve never passed a busker without donating and as I have several musician friends who also busk, the move away from the use of cash troubles me. Hence my membership of Facebook’s ‘Keep Cash:UK’, to raise awareness of the need to preserve cash use and how best to do it.

Yesterday, someone living in a Yorkshire village where the majority are elderly, posted: “I was approached today by a non-local who really needed the loo but couldn't work out how to access the newly refurbished public toilets; she didn’t know how to use the Google Pay pad provided. She rushed off to find a loo at the pub so I didn't have chance to look/help her.” Someone responded: “I'm 60 and have elderly relatives who fear to go out just because of this kind of thing. Cashless car parks put them off driving, now they can catch a bus to town but don't because of cashless loos. It's a disgrace.”

I totally get both comments. I’m fairly tech-savvy but wouldn’t know how to use Google or any method other than cash or card to pay for anything and nor would I want to. I’ve had to wander around a large hospital car park in the early hours looking for a functioning card reader machine, (the only payment method). None were working, there was no answer from the emergency ‘phone number and despite leaving a message with my details, I was fined. I feel strongly that local authorities and the contractors running our council’s car parks, toilets and other facilities should be forced to provide alternative payment methods for those of us who need them – and for when machines go down, cards are corrupted or there’s no Wi-Fi signal. After all, if we want folk to support our town centres and local businesses, we need to make it easy for them to visit – and to prevent street urination to boot!

Back to my father… don’t miss the ‘lone workers report’ piece further down the page. It has useful data for anyone those whose work isolates them from others and for those responsible for keeping lone workers safe.