Welsh facial recognition story goes international

Martin Shipton

Concerns expressed by a Welsh shopper about the misuse of facial recognition technology by supermarkets have been taken up by news media in mainland Europe.

Nation.Cymru recently highlighted the case of Byron Long, 66, who was barred by B&M in Cardiff after being falsely accused of stealing goods.

The story has been followed up by a French TV station and is expected to be run by a German broadcaster too.

Mr Long has made a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office about the incident.

He entered the B&M store in Cardiff Bay Retail Park on April 29 2025 when he was stopped by a member of staff and told in front of other customers that he was barred and would have to leave because he was a thief. According to the staff member, CCTV images captured by a facial recognition firm contracted to the store called Facewatch had shown him stealing goods to the value of £75 during a previous visit on April 9.

In fact Mr Long had bought cat treats at a cost of £7 and had stolen nothing.

He said: “Eventually I got access to the CCTV footage which clearly showed me wearing a Red Bull Formula 1 jacket and paying for the cat treats.

“It was a horrible experience and I haven’t been back to the store since. The incident has had a very serious impact on my mental health, which is very fragile anyway, and I am now very anxious whenever I go shopping.” B&M Customer Services wrote to Mr Long apologising. They stated: “Our B&M store and security teams have a duty of care to all our customers and to our company, and this includes challenging people that they believe are potentially shop lifting. This is an extremely difficult task, and sadly we don’t always get it right; your case would be one of these instances.

“We can confirm your data has been removed from Facewatch.

“On behalf of B&M please accept my sincere apologies for any embarrassment, inconvenience and upset caused. We would never want this for one of our valued customers, and we hope that in time this incident does not deter you from shopping with B&M.”

They offered Mr Long a voucher worth £25, which he rejected as an insult.

Responding to Mr Long’s complaint, Michele Bond, Facewatch’s Head of Incident Review and Data Protection Enquiries, stated: “Facewatch Incident data is submitted by authorised users, who must confirm the accuracy of the information provided. Once the error was identified, the user responsible was immediately suspended from using the Facewatch system.”

Big Brother Watch

Mr Long took his case to the campaign group Big Brother Watch, which has now taken the matter up with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Jasleen Chaggar, the Legal and Policy Officer of Big Brother Watch wrote to the ICO saying: “I am writing on behalf of Mr Byron Long to complain about infringements of his data rights by Facewatch and B&M Retail Limited (“B&M”) on 9th April and 29th April 2025. I also seek to bring to the Commissioner’s attention wider concerns about how B&M and Facewatch implement facial recognition technology, in particular the failure of both Facewatch and B&M to adhere to their own policies and the ICO’s guidance on the use of this technology.

“The purpose of this complaint is to:

i. Bring to the ICO’s attention fresh evidence of breaches by Facewatch and its clients of the data protection legislation, despite the ICO’s investigation and requirement for Facewatch to improve its compliance;

ii. Highlight the lack of measures in place between Facewatch and its clients to ensure the accuracy of their processing which is highly invasive and involves allegations of criminal conduct;

ii. Seek investigative and corrective action by the ICO to (address the infringements on the complainant’s data rights

“The ICO is familiar with Facewatch’s system, after multiple other complaints that have been made by those impacted by their system.

“Mr Long’s personal data was processed by Facewatch and Home Bargains as joint controllers. He visited a B&M store on 9th April and was falsely accused of stealing £75 worth of goods. On the basis of this accusation, his biometric data was added to a watchlist of people alleged by the joint controllers to have committed crimes at locations operated by Facewatch clients.

“Later, on 29th April, Mr Long revisited the store and was biometrically scanned. This resulted in a match to the watchlist and an alert to B&M staff, who accused Mr Long of the previous alleged theft, and forced him to leave the store. This caused Mr Long significant distress. It remains unclear to Mr Long why he was placed on Facewatch’s watchlist in the first instance, and no response has been provided to him despite questions.

“As you will see in the attached images, Facewatch’s signage is obscured by the automatic doors at B&M, meaning Mr Long was not aware that facial recognition technology was being used in the B&M or that his biometric data was being processed. It follows that other customers similarly will be unaware this processing is taking place.

“Mr Long currently has a police caution. While the caution is not in relation to any kind of theft, harassment or anti-social behaviour, a public (false) allegation of shoplifting could have potentially placed him at increased risk of police intervention or arrest.

“Mr Long also has ongoing mental health issues, making him particularly vulnerable. While Mr Long was able to submit Subject Access Requests and contact both B&M and Facewatch to ensure his removal from the Watchlist, he remains concerned that many other vulnerable individuals would be unable to undertake this process.

“Mr Long believes his data was processed and shared unlawfully and is seeking an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office into both B&M and Facewatch. The failure of Facewatch to investigate B&M’s allegations of criminality against Mr Long is unacceptable and violates Facewatch’s own policy, which stated “Facewatch reviews every incident to ensure both are demonstrated.” Facewatch instead told Mr Long, when he complained of the inaccuracy of the entry made about him and asked if Facewatch undertakes any checks surrounding allegations, that ‘Incident data is submitted by authorised users, who must confirm the accuracy of the information provided’. We are also concerned that this ‘incident data’ was not provided to Mr Long when he submitted his Subject Access Request.”

‘Walking barcodes’

Madeleine Stone, Senior Advocacy Officer at Big Brother Watch, said: “This technology turns shoppers into walking barcodes and makes us a nation of suspects, with devastating consequences for people’s lives when it inevitably makes mistakes. We are regularly hearing from and supporting distressed people who have been caught up in a confusing net of privatised surveillance, despite being entirely innocent.

“Deploying airport-style security checks in order to buy a pint of milk is hugely disproportionate and is leading to injustices with no clear remedy for those wrongly labelled as shoplifters by AI. The government must urgently step in and stop retailers from subjecting shoppers to this Orwellian and discriminatory technology.”

Since the original story was published, Mr Long’s experience has been featured on the French TV channel TF1, with a reporter and camera crew coming to Cardiff from their base in London. The German broadcaster RTL also plans to run the story.

Mr Long said: “There is a huge amount of interest in matters related to facial recognition. People are concerned that proper safeguards are introduced. I don’t want anyone else to go through the stress of what I was subjected to.”