Facial recognition technology is to be trialled in convenience stores to help combat under-age sales of alcohol and tobacco.
The Age Watch system is due to be installed later this month at a store in the south-east of England, understood to be a Budgens. If successful, it could be rolled out across the UK.
The technology has been developed to be used in c-stores at the point of sale to capture images of customers that will be scanned against a database of known offenders.
Any images that are not recognised will be captured, stored and pooled with other convenience stores, allowing retailers to gauge almost instantly if the person they are serving is under-age.
The technology is a joint project by facial recognition company OmniPerception and software company Charton, which provides point of sale and data matching.
David McIntosh, CEO of OmniPerception, said: “This is a truly unique project which we hope will help convenience store owners demonstrate they take a responsible attitude towards serving underage children.”
