CUSTOMERS at White & Sons in Warwick will have to show photo identification the next time they use their debit or credit cards to pay for goods. The new security policy was enforced in an effort to clamp down on the use of stolen cards at the store.

White & Sons floor manager Dianne Scott said the store had always verified signatures on cheques and debit/credit cards and started asking for photo identification when customers failed to sign their cards, or the signatures had worn off.

However, it was decided earlier this month to change policy and request photo identification with every purchase made using debit/credit cards after notices were received from the island’s major banks warning of an increase in card theft.

Miss Scott said signs were placed at all cash registers and doors to inform customers of the change and while most customers happily produced a drivers’ licence, others were not happy with the change.

“My cashiers take a lot of flak from customers about this. One of my girls asked a customer for photo identification and he said, ‘What’s this s**t now?’ and I had to explain to him that it was for his benefit, but still he threatened never to come back.

“When I was a cashier, if the card was stolen, or someone used another person’s card and there was a problem, the cashier that accepted it was responsible for the money,” she said.

“People don’t seem to realise that if they try and buy something using someone else’s card, that’s fraud. I have women coming into the store wanting to use their husband’s cards and they don’t understand that they simply can’t do that.”