Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me Simon Calder coming to you from

sort of, I was going to say central London, probably south London is how I would need to define it.

But very nice to talk to you. We need, or rather I would like to, talk about biometrics.

This came about because a lady who's worked on a farm for the last 40 years

was going to America and US Customs and Border Protection, of course, required her to be fingerprinted like they do.

Anyway, because, to use her term, her fingerprints had been eroded.

Although obviously perfectly normal, just a bit of wear and tear on the old

agriculture front, I should imagine.

They said, we cannot fingerprint you and therefore we are

getting very concerned. Now, fingerprints are clearly a unique biometric and therefore very

favoured by people who want to understand who other people are.

And they can get quite shirty, obviously, if they can't get them.

I mean, I don't know about you, but I have been at situations at borders where your fingerprints have to be red.

And it's very often difficult. Yeah, there might be a little bit of sweat

on your fingers. The glass thing that you have to press them down on might not work. Anyway,

bad enough for people who have had a life which hasn't been full of toil like me. And for people who have worked outside, it must be really tricky.

So she says she was, this went on for 20 minutes,

them trying to fingerprint her during which they were asking her all sorts of difficult questions.

And quotes,

only when I explain my job,

guilty breathe of sigh of relief and say,

that explained things.

...