Pauline Cooper, 80, is determined to keep fit and active so she goes swimming every day at 6.30am at the Sovereign Centre in Eastbourne.
She also likes to take the Sunday morning aquafit class after her swim but cannot book in advance online because she does not own a smartphone or a computer.
The 30 spaces in the sessions are often all taken by the time she tries to book in person at the centre so Pauline feels digitally excluded and at an unfair disadvantage.
She has been told she can only book in person within office hours. Others can book online at any time eight days in advance.
“I would like the same consideration as people online”
Pauline cooper
For the class on Sunday mornings, Pauline says the other swimmers use their phones on the Saturday of the previous weekend to book – but she must wait until after 9am on Mondays to ask the pool’s reception staff to book for her.
She says the class is frequently full and she has to wait to be informed if there are cancellations.
Pauline said: “All I want to do is walk in and say: ‘Can I book?’ at the same time as people who are online. It’s very, very popular – some people even book two sessions in a row.
“I just want to be self-sufficient, to keep fit and active. I would like to have the same consideration people online have. Is that too much to ask?
“I should be able to book on a Saturday, the same as people on their phones do.”
However, in a statment to the Eastbourne Reporter, Eastbourne Borough Council said that they had offered to take Pauline through how to book a class online and give her advice on which device to buy.
The cost of the classes is included in the swimming membership Pauline has with the centre, which allows her to use the pool and join classes.
Margaret Gygax, a fellow swimmer and one of Pauline’s friends, raised the matter on her behalf with the Sovereign Centre. A manager replied to Margaret to say “we will not be changing the booking policy at this time”.
Margaret, 77, said: “I just thought they were disappointing, abrupt and failed to deal with the point we’ve asked about. I feel I was wasting my time.”
What a council manager said
One email from a manager said:
“Firstly, I’m sorry that Mrs Cooper is unable to purchase a phone with internet capabilities and does not have access to a computer and in turn not able to book onto the aqua aerobic classes [sic].
“We allow booking 8 days in advance online as a benefit for all our member [sic], and we steer them online as this keeps phone calls to a minimum and in turn allows our reception team to deal with the customers coming into the building.
“In pushing members to book online we are acting fair, consistent and equal, all members have the same access to online devices if they wish [sic]. For us to have different rules for different members would not be fair, and an increase in phone calls would require additional staff to deal with them effectively.
“I am sympathetic to Mrs Cooper’s situation, but we will not be changing the booking policy at this time.”
What the council says
A statement from Eastbourne Borough Council to the Eastbourne Reporter said:
“We are very sorry Pauline feels this way as we have tried very hard to accommodate her, including offering to sit down together and take her through how the bookings are managed, how to book a class online and offer advice on suitable devices to give her the online access that would help her.
“Previously, a friend or family member has booked classes on her behalf. The aquafit class is very popular and gets booked up in minutes, so Pauline is not the only person to sometimes miss out.
“We have many older customers who regularly visit the Sovereign Centre to use the facilities and take part in supervised classes.
“We will continue discussing this situation with Pauline and do all we can to help her make the best use of the Sovereign Centre in the future.”
Ageing population
Fellow swimmer Lindsey Cole, 65, said that other council facilities, such as the theatres and bandstand, can apparently be booked online or in-person on an equal basis.
“It seems to me a little bit unfair for something that can be easily fixed,” she said.
Eastbourne has a higher percentage of people over 80 than the overall figure for England.
The 2021 national census (above) showed that 7.6% of the Eastbourne population of 101,700 at the time was over 80 years old, equating to 7,729 people. This compares with the overall figure in England of 4.9% who are over 80.
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Really sad that, at a time of financial hardship for many, the option for booking fairly without online access is not being considered. Digital exclusion is a massive problem, not just for the older age groups who may not want a digital device(as well as the affordability issue), but also for those with Learning Disabilities and other conditions. We really need to be looking at equity here to support the whole community, not expect everyone to fit predetermined behaviours which many cannot.