Pupils fingerprinted at school

A child checks to see if a book has been loaned out

Pupils at a school in Bedfordshire have all had their fingerprints taken, even though none of them are in trouble with the police.

But the prints could get them in trouble with the school librarian.

The children at Kingsmoor Lower School in Flitwick, Bedford, have been fingerprinted to enable them to use the school library, which has had a high-tech makeover.

Pupils check out books by placing their thumb on a scanner which determines their identity.

The school's librarian can then use data captured in the computer to finger those who do not return their books.

Val Wang said: "We can now track every child down to which book they have - and how long they have had it.

"There's no getting away."

Children told BBC Look East they found the new system - which also has a spoken response from the scanner when it is used properly - "a great improvement" over traditional library cards.