Smoking ban a bonus for club biometric solution

The city centre location of many nightclubs means installing an outdoor smoking area is not an option. Current ticket, swipe card or hand-stamp identification methods are open to abuse, UK Biometrics claims, since they can be swapped outside the venue, putting owners at risk of allowing underage drinkers or known troublemakers entrance. With the UK Biometrics Membership System, developed on Tyneside, nightclub management know that the person re-entering the club after a cigarette break is the person who originally paid to enter.

UK Biometrics MD Matthew James said: “Allowing exit and re-entry to a venue has always been a feature of our system, but we noticed a massive increase in interest when we attended the Bar.07 exhibition at Earls Court in June this year. Since then we have been demonstrating the system to venue owners and managers throughout the UK. Our ability to allow people to leave for a smoke and re-enter is a welcome catalyst to sales.”

The first UK nightclub to install a biometric access system was Blu Bambu in Newcastle’s Bigg Market in April 2005. Since then the system as been installed in clubs and venues across the UK.

Customers bring ‘quality’ ID – such as a passport or driving licence – only once, and register their fingerprint on the system. No actual fingerprints are stored. Instead, the system recognises key points on the fingerprint and converts these into data, which is then encrypted and stored.

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