The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has urged the UK government to legislate the use of the technology to verify customers’ age for sales of alcohol.
According to the BRC, the move would make stores a “safer place to work”, hoping that it would cut reduce the risk of abuse associated with age verification.
The call comes after a recent BRC survey reveals retail staff face over 1,300 incidents of violence and abuse every day, with one of the most common triggers for these incidents is when staff ask customers to verify their age for alcohol sales.
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The technology is already in use for other age restricted products such as tobacco and knives, and the government should extend its use to alcohol sales, the association said.
“The BRC has long campaigned for digital age estimation technology to be used to verify a person’s age for the purchase of alcohol,” BRC director of business regulation Tom Ironside said.
“With incidents of violence and abuse against retail staff sharply rising, the technology would help to make stores a safer place to work and shop.
“Digital forms of age verification can already be used for all other age restricted products such as tobacco, knives and medicine, and there is no reason this cannot also be extended to alcohol sales.”
