Sainsbury's has suspended live facial recognition scanners at its East Dulwich branch in south London after the technology wrongly flagged a regular customer as a shoplifter and staff ordered him to leave the store.
Matt Arnold, a 46-year-old comedy promoter, had been shopping for supplies for a stand-up night at the neighbouring Dulwich Hamlet Football Club on 6 August. He had scanned his items and swiped his Nectar card at a self-checkout and was waiting for staff to approve an alcohol purchase when two managers approached and told him he would not be served, citing an 'incident' earlier that week.
