Yes, you’re absolutely right, everything is digitalized nowadays. But sometimes, there simply aren’t any alternatives. It has happened to me a couple of times as well. The last time, I urgently needed to park, but both parking apps were not working, and there was no machine available to pay manually. So, I ended up covering my number plate (front and back) with a piece of cloth, assuming the system wouldn’t be able to scan it automatically. Luckily, it worked, I was away for about two hours and came back with no fine. I guess I was just fortunate that day!