Diners' fingers do the paying with new German invention

Diners could soon pay for their restaurant bills by fingerprint instead of cash or credit cards, if a German invention catches on in the UK.

A device that reads customers' fingerprints and debits the bill straight from their bank is being introduced in bars and restaurants across Germany.

Thomas Aurich, owner of the Food Court restaurant in Heibronn, said it had made life much easier. "Spontaneous visits to a pub or restaurant are no longer a problem. If you don't have any money with you, you can simply pay through the new fingerprint analysis system."

Customers provide a fingerprint and their bank details on their first visit to the restaurant, which are then saved in an electronic system.

The next time they visit, they press their finger against a small device that scans the print, as it would a bar code, and matches it to that already in the system. The bill is then debited from their bank.

The system, called Digiproof and developed by German technology company It-Werke, costs almost £5,000 to install.