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Northants nightclub ID scanners go live

Martin Heath and Ollie ConopoBBC News, Northamptonshire
News imageOllie Conopo/BBC Woman with short hair and glasses on top of her head sits next to a monitor screenOllie Conopo/BBC
Jackie Gould, a security guard at Elysium nightclub, said fingerprint ID scanning will save time

A cross-county ID scanning network has been introduced to tackle crime and disorder around late-night venues.

The system covers 30 pubs and clubs across Northampton, Wellingborough, Kettering and Daventry.

Northamptonshire Police said anyone banned in one venue could find themselves excluded from all of them.

The system can also store personal identification information so someone can be checked even if they have not brought ID with them.

The project has cost around £119,000 and has been implemented by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, with some funding from the Home Office.

News imageOllie Conopo/BBC Police officers in yellow hi-viz outside a nightclubOllie Conopo/BBC
Thirty venues across Northamptonshire are part of the scheme

One of the venues on the network is Fiddlers on Wellingborough Road in Northampton.

The landlady, Rachel Howard, said: "It can be rough sometimes, we get a lot of backlash from customers, it can be quite dangerous. So having the scanning machine really helps eliminate those people trying to come in because they know we've got their details."

PC Dave Bryan, from Northamptonshire Police, said: "If you get barred in, say, Northampton and you attempt to enter a venue with this ID scanner in Kettering, an alert will come up and you could potentially not get into that venue as well.

"One venue in Wellingborough refused entry to a person who presented their ID and they were on a Birmingham city-wide licensed premises ban, so they do really work well."

News imageOllie Conopo/BBC Scanning machine (fruit machine size) by a doorway in a nightclubOllie Conopo/BBC
All the venues in the scheme will now be using the same technology

Over at Elysium in Horseshoe Street, security guard Jackie Gould hopes the system will help her deal with the rush of people trying to prove who they are.

She said: "Some people don't bring their ID and we have to manually input somebody, so if they bring their ID once and put their fingerprint on, it's done."

Two clubbers - both called Ben - also welcomed the scheme.

News imageOllie Conopo/BBC Two young men pointing at each other. One wears a baseball cap. The other is in a red Adidas fleece.Ollie Conopo/BBC
Two clubbers, both called Ben, said it was good to know people banned in one place would not be able to get into another

One said: "If someone's being an absolute idiot in one club, it's good that they know about it so he doesn't get in the next one and cause a big stir."

"It's a nice step forward," added the other Ben. "Back in the day, if you had ID, not a lot of people would remember if you got kicked out before, but these ID scanners help out remembering. If there's people causing trouble, causing fights, they won't let them back in."

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