Scanner stops underage smokers

4:11pm Tuesday 3rd June 2008

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A newsagent has become the first in Oxford to use fingerprints to check the age of people wanting to buy tobacco.

And he believes the hi-tech identification system - costing £1 a day - could also help combat under-age drinking, if it is used across the city.

Nigel Taylor, from Headington, introduced the machine at St Giles News, in St Giles, on Thursday - and it has already proved a talking point.

It works by scanning the fingerprint of a customer and converting the information into a binary code.

Mr Taylor said: "We saw a report in a trade magazine a month or so ago and were intrigued.

"Once you're on the system, you don't have to bring your ID again, but if the machine is stolen, there's no actual information of use to anyone.

"We do get a lot of younger-looking people regularly coming into the shop and with different people working at the till, we need to challenge them.

"It must be pretty tedious for them."

Mr Taylor, who sells about 100 packs of cigarettes a day, said the system - called OK i.D. - reduced the chance of his staff being fooled by fake identification.

Tony Cope, the Oxfordshire licensing co-ordinator for Thames Valley Police, said about 30 per cent of pubs and off-licences in the region had served people under 18 during recent checks using under-age teenagers.

He said: "There are quite a few places selling to under-age people - it's good to see somebody is taking a positive step to stop underage sales, because obviously it's a big problem."

Mr Cope said that with OK i.D. shop assistants selling cigarettes and alcohol did not have to guess people's ages, which cut out human error and avoided confrontation.

Nightsafe, a joint agency aimed at making Oxford a safer place at night, also backed the system.

Manager Karen Crossan said: "Anything to combat under-age sales of alcohol and cigarettes, or even spray paint and lottery tickets, is a good thing."

OK i.D. co-developer Rod Harrington, based near Bolton, in Lancashire, said that with many supermarkets operating Challenge 21 and 25 policies, asking people to prove their age, people in their late 20s were often asked for identification.

He said: "It can be very frustrating, but if you're an independent retailer, your livelihood depends on your staff not making a mistake."

Last year, more than 1,000 businesses in the UK were closed after selling alcohol or cigarettes to people under 18, said Mr Harrington.

Anti-smoking group Ash, however, was sceptical the system would help reduce the number of children who actually smoked.

Director Deborah Arnott said: "While children do still buy cigarettes from shops, they get them from lots of other sources as well."