Up to 3m people not ready for midnight shift to chip and PIN
By Ben Hoyle

NI_MPU('middle');

WAITERS, disabled and elderly people are likely to be hardest hit when the chip and PIN switchover happens at midnight tonight.
New rules obliging all chip and PIN card users to enter a four-digit code to verify a purchase come into force tomorrow, despite forecasts of chaos at checkout tills.
The banks and retail groups that are driving the change argue that chip and PIN transactions are faster and more secure than signing for a purchase, which has been phased out over the past three years.
But one in ten businesses will fail to meet the deadline for adapting their tills, and yesterday Gordon Brown cast doubt on the technology’s effectiveness, suggesting that biometric measures such as fingerprint recognition were cheaper and safer. The Chancellor told the Royal United Services Institute, London, that finger-scanning devices had already replaced PIN numbers in Californian supermarkets and on Japanese cash machines.
“They are more secure against fraud and theft. And across the world in very different cultures most people seem happy to use biometric schemes when they see direct value in greater security, greater convenience and lower cost.”
From midnight tonight, retailers will be able to refuse to accept payment from people using chip and PIN cards if they do not know their number.
The British Retail Consortium said yesterday that the technology had reduced counterfeit card fraud in the first six months of 2005 by 31 per cent compared with the same period in 2004, and cut lost or stolen card fraud by 27 per cent.
A spokeswoman said that the transition should be smooth because 80 per cent of high street transactions were already conducted in this way.
However, consumer groups fear that vulnerable individuals have not been made aware they will be eligible for other methods of payment after the changeover. Customers with a legitimate problem with chip and PIN, such as poor eyesight, arthritis or memory and mobility problems, qualify for a new chip and signature card.
The National Consumer Council estimates that up to three million Britons could have difficulties with PINs. “Many vulnerable consumers are being told that they will have to use their PINs,” the NCC said. There is also concern that the face-to-face nature of chip and PIN payments is reducing tips in restaurants and hotels. Martin Couchman, of the British Hospitality Association, said: “In some parts of the country . . . people simply weren’t getting tips.”
Apacs, the trade association for the payments industry, said yesterday that 10 per cent of Britain’s 860,000 tills had still not been updated to process chip and PIN technology. If they accept a signature as proof of identity then they, rather than the bank supporting the card, will be liable for any subsequent fraud.
PLAYING THE NUMBERS GAME
How can I come up with a memorable number?
· Choose a year — but not the year of your birthday — that has some significance. For example, the date of a famous historical battle or the day your football team won the FA Cup
· Substitute the letters of the alphabet for numbers, so A is 1, D is 4 and I is 9. However, the word you use must only have letters between A and I in it, e.g. fade, which would be 6145
· Use the numbers from the car registration of your neighbour
· Use the last four digits of your old telephone number or that of a close relative/friend
· The exact time of your birth in the 24-hour clock format
· The exact personal best time of your favourite 100 metre sprinter
How many chances do I get to remember my PIN?
As with cash machines, you have three goes to get the numbers right. If your third attempt fails the card is automatically “frozen”. You will then have to contact your bank.