Holidaymakers spared passport queues with facial recognition scan
British holidaymakers returning home will be allowed to avoid passport queues under plans to use facial recognition technology at ports.
Families and individuals will not have to leave their cars and instead drive through 'contactless corridors', where high-powered cameras will match their faces with passport and car details already logged in government databases.
Similar measures are being planned for airports, where all travellers will be scanned automatically and be able to walk to the exit upon their return.
The technology, which has been on trial since November at four ports, is designed to cut the queues that build up during holiday periods.
Ferry companies currently advise holidaymakers to allow 90 minutes to complete the manual passport inspections and check-in controls by Border Force officers at ports.
Foreigners travelling to Britain will have to submit biometric details through an app as part of the UK's electronic travel authorisation (ETA) scheme, which launches next month. They will provide their data before they travel and be checked on arrival at the port by the face-scanning cameras.
This will allow security checks to be conducted on people and added to a database before they arrive. Biometric details of British and Irish travellers are already obtained during the passport application process.
Only 'passengers of interest' – highlighted as a risk owing to intelligence, safeguarding concerns or questions over their identity – will have to undergo manual checks on arrival by a Border Force officer.
Four companies have been involved in trialling their technology with the prospect of being introduced within the next year.
'Streamline and efficient'
One source who has seen the technology in operation said: 'At the moment you have to stop and hand your passports through the window of your car to the Border Force officer who puts them through a reader then gives them back to you.
'Under the new system, instead of getting your passports out you look at the camera. They have these really high-powered cameras that can look through the windscreen and take a picture of your face and match it to the face on the database.
'Assuming all is well, then you get the green light and you drive through the border. The other option is that you wind down your window and you all look at an iPad. The aim is to use the technology on maritime and rail routes then on air routes.
iProov, a specialist biometric security company participating in the trials, said its facial comparison technology was designed to identify travellers within their vehicles and link the confirmed passenger ID with the vehicle in which they are travelling.
Andrew Bud, its founder and chief executive, said: 'By bringing the latest identity verification technology to this critical domain, we aim to create a streamlined and efficient experience for all passengers that doesn't compromise on speed or accuracy, and they never have to leave their vehicles.'
A Home Office spokesman said: 'We use a wide range of techniques and technology to protect our border security, but we do not comment on trials of specific equipment.'
A similar European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) is due to launch in late 2026 where British travellers will have to provide their biometric data in advance to secure entry to EU countries.
The EU has already warned that ETIAS could lead to significant delays as first-time visitors will have to provide fingerprints or facial scans at border checkpoints.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metro
an hour ago
- Metro
Airline announces rescue flights from Israel to London after '25,000 requests'
El Al is to start rescue flights from Israel from Monday after receiving 25,000 request forms, the airline said. Israel's flag carrier said it would begin operations tomorrow with a strict cap of 50 passengers per flight, in line with government guidance. Under the scheme, passengers who leave Israel on a rescue flight will not be allowed to for at least 21 days. A total of 25,000 people have registered their interest since the system opened on Saturday night. Flights will operate to London, Paris, Athens, Rome, Larnaca, New York, Los Angeles and Bangkok. Currently, passengers can only book flights on El Al from July 15 after the airline suspended regular operations until at least June 27. El Al said in a statement: 'We are subject to and operate in accordance with the directives of the security establishment and the Ministry of Transportation. 'The safety and security of our passengers are our top priority, and we will continue to provide updates on any changes or new directives.' Following Israel's Operation Rising Lion air strikes targeting Iranian nuclear sites and Tehran's subsequent retaliation, the Foreign Office updated its travel advice on June 15, placing Israel on its red list. British citizens in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories are advised to 'follow local authorities' advice'. As well as rescue flights from Israel, the airline is running repatriation flights for Israeli citizens abroad from the same destinations. More Trending The airline said that flights would be 'operated gradually' and subject to government approval. It added that passengers already booked onto flights between June 13 and June 30 would not be charged an additional fee if reassigned onto a rescue flight to the same region. In addition to emergency flights, El Al is offering cruises to and from Cyprus in partnership with Mano Maritime, with each voyage accommodating up to 1,500 passengers. During Sunday evening's meeting of the UN Security Council, Iran accused the US of a 'flagrant breach of international law' and having 'waged a war' under a 'under a fabricated and absurd pretext'. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Man, 22, fighting for life after stabbing outside prayer centre MORE: Piccadilly line's new air conditioned trains delayed while London faces heatwave MORE: Is it safe to travel to Dubai right now? Latest Foreign Office tourist advice after US strikes Iran
Metro
an hour ago
- Metro
What the 'i' in iPhone and other Apple products stands for
Phone users have been wondering what the 'i' stands for in iPhone. Apple has long used the class of i before its products, including iPod, iPad, and iMac. The single letter has been taken for granted, but some online users have given various explanations as to what the brand's lowercase signature could represent, with some suggesting information, intelligence or even individual. Before his death in 2011, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs revealed what the elusive letter meant. He explained that the 'i' in fact signified the internet, access to which was the primary purpose of a computer when Apple's first iMac came on the market in 1998, prior to which its predecessors were named Macintosh. Launching his game-changing product, Jobs explained: 'An iMac comes from the marriage of the excitement of the internet with the simplicity of Macintosh. But he added: 'i also means some other things to us. We are a personal computer company in all this. The product is born to network. It is also a beautiful stand alone product.' But Jobs later elaborated on the subsequent meaning of 'i' – which has since been applied to the name of nearly all of Apple's products. As rivals caught up on the internet front, Apple's USP shifted elsewhere and the i began to represent several new concepts. According to Jobs, these were Apple's core missions: individual, instruct, inform, and inspire. However, he suggested the letter i before products also has another more personal meaning for consumers. It can refer to the first-person pronoun 'I', an allusion to the products being one's personal property and an essential companion – after all, who leaves the house without their phone these days? Finally, i can also mean instruction – a reference to the educational aspect of Apple's portfolio and how the user instructs devices to do what they want (or maybe with the advent of AI, vice versa!) More Trending The letter i was not just used as a marketing moniker either. Apple also uses it for job titles. In fact, Jobs himself became iCEO of Apple in 1997, with the i in this case representing interim. The first iPhone was released on June 29, 2007, in the US. It came out in the UK in November 2007, with an estimated 30,000 sold on the first day alone. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page.
Metro
6 hours ago
- Metro
British man 'devastated' after being kicked out of Dubai for face tattoos
A British man's dream holiday to Dubai was ruined after he was refused entry because of his tattoos. Jordan Howman, 34, landed at Dubai International Airport for a week-long getaway with his fiancée Theresa, 38, and daughter Kaic, 16. Jordan, from Crewe, had forked out £3,000 for his third trip to the United Arab Emirates, his 'favourite country in the world.' But on arrival, he was pulled over by customs officers, before being refused entry after a six-hour wait due to his face tattoos. Jordan got the markings on his face around eight or nine years ago alongside words like 'blessed', 'family' and 'crazy life' and said it has never caused problems during his previous two visits to Dubai. He said: 'It has absolutely devastated me. I feel like I've been massively discriminated against. 'My missus has been crying her eyes out.' 'There's no law against face tattoos – there's nothing like that. The plasterer said the experience had made him feel 'absolutely rubbish' and had put him off travelling to Dubai again. He added: 'It was my favourite country, but this has absolutely ruined it. Now I'll never go again. I've lost all of my money because of a pattern on my face.' The UAE has become one of the go-to destinations for wealthy British expats and holidaymakers alike. But the state's socially conservative policies can cause problems for visiting foreigners. Britons have previously faced arrest for public displays of affection, including kissing. The UAE also has a zero tolerance for drugs, with passengers found with even residual amounts of illegal substances facing a prison sentence. Jordan's Emirates airline touched down at Dubai International Airport on Wednesday, June 111, at 7.30am. 'It was my third trip to Dubai,' he said. 'I'd had no problems all the other times. But this time, as we got in, I scanned my passport and was just about to go through security when an airport worker pulled us aside. 'We were about to put our hand luggage on the conveyor belt when the man said: 'Follow me'.' After taking Jordan aside, the man asked if he'd had his passport stamped before taking it from him. 'Then he snatched my passport out of my hand,' he said. 'There had been nowhere to stamp it – we'd used the electronic gates. It was just an excuse to get the passport out of my hand.' After being held in a waiting room for over four hours, Jordan was transferred to immigration at around 12pm, he said. By this time, his family had reached the five-star Anantara hotel. He called his partner and she got a taxi to the airport but he says 'they wouldn't let me see her' and she got a taxi back to the hotel, costing a total of £250. Jordan said he was not given his passport back for some time which was 'terrifying'. 'A woman came and took me upstairs to immigration, where they said: 'He's not coming in because of his face tattoos – you're not coming in because of the way you look',' he said. 'One of the staff behind the desk said a more senior immigration officer made the decision, saying I was not to enter Dubai and that I must leave the country immediately.' More Trending At 2.30pm, Jordan was put on another Emirates flight heading back to the UK. 'They sent me on a flight back to Manchester. It was only when I landed that I got my passport back. Friday morning was the first time I got to see my daughter, over Facetime', he said. Metro approached Dubai Airports for a comment and an attempt was made to contact the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigh Affairs Dubai. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Is it safe to travel to Dubai right now? Latest Foreign Office tourist advice after US strikes Iran MORE: Florida attorney general offers Trump 'Alligator Alcatraz' prison to hold immigrants MORE: Why I keep going back to the world's 'most overrated' city
