"Refused a test because I had no mobile phone"

I am a man in my sixties and I was refused a Covid-19 test at Sessions House, Maidstone because I do not have a mobile phone!

I booked a Covid-19 test with Kent County Council.  I received a Covid Test Booking Confirmation email from Kent County Council.

I arrived for my appointment and a staff member met me to handle my registration.  They were very pleasant, polite and helpful.  I explained that I do not like or possess a phone but that I had previously been tested at Sessions House and they had e-mailed me the results of these tests.They needed to check how to do this and went to speak to someone which was fine.  

The staff member came back with someone who claimed their IT department had changed the procedure.  I had to have a mobile phone number to have a test, and said it was a matter of Data Protection.  I disputed this as I had given my permission to be contacted in this manner, there was no Data Protection issue!  They said that they agreed with me on this but said the IT department had set the regulation.

They then asked if I could get someone to give me their phone number to be used!  I made my feelings very clear but the reply was that that their procedure was that I had to have a mobile phone to have a test.

We are in the worst medical pandemic of all our lifetimes.  We are all constantly being told to have Covid-19 tests.  But Kent County Council’s IT Department have decided the most important weapon against Covid-19 is a mobile phone!