Pay By Touch goes live

UK shoppers can now pay for goods without cash, cards or cheques, using the new Pay By Touch system.

Under the new system, fingerprint scanners read a customer's identity - bringing up a list of their available credit or debit cards.

The shopper then enters their search number, which is typically their phone number. This number does not have to be secret as all it does is help the system look up your data before checking to see if the finger on the scanner matches it.

Paying for goods using Pay By Touch takes around ten seconds.

The system is available in the UK at three Mid-Counties Co-op shops in Oxford, with plans to roll out in Swindon and Gloucester later on.

Concerns have been raised that this process could infringe civil liberties, but Pay By Touch points out that its scanners do not store people's fingerprints.

Instead, after customers register - a process which takes about a minute to complete - data from the fingerprint is reduced to 40 geometric points and then encrypted.

Pay By Touch asserts that it is impossible to re-create what the fingerprint looks like from this data.

The system has the advantage of relieving consumers of the need to hunt for cash, and also means cards can be left at home - removing any risk that they might be stolen, copied or cloned.

Pay By Touch has been operating in the US for three years, where some 2.3 million customers have signed up, and has deals with some of the largest supermarkets Stateside. The company is hopeful that this success can be transferred to the UK market

People wishing to check out the new system can find the stores at Co-ops on 152 London Road, Headington, Oxford; Blackbourton Road, Carterton, Oxfordshire; and at 228-240 Banbury Road, Summertown, Oxford.