A man was wrongly ordered to leave a Sainsbury's store in Elephant and Castle, London, after staff misidentified him using facial recognition technology from the firm Facewatch. Warren Rajah, a regular customer, was told to abandon his shopping and leave the store, with staff unable to explain the reason and directing him to a QR code for Facewatch's website.
Rajah contacted Facewatch, which asked him to send a photo of himself and his passport before confirming he was not on their database. 'I shouldn't have to prove I am innocent,' he said, describing the incident as 'Orwellian' and reminiscent of the film Minority Report. He was concerned that a permanent record of criminality might have been created.
Rajah criticised the lack of clear responsibility, saying Sainsbury's initially blamed Facewatch, then the executive office blamed store staff. He also worried about vulnerable people who might not be able to challenge such errors, as they are expected to send personal information to prove their innocence.
Sainsbury's apologised to Rajah, stating it was not an issue with the technology but a case of human error in approaching the wrong customer. Facewatch echoed this, saying the incident arose from a staff mistake and that Rajah was not on their database.
