Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, at which railway stations live facial recognition technology has been deployed in each of the last five years; on what dates it was deployed at each station; for what purpose; and how many individuals were (a) matched to watchlists, (b) stopped by police and (c) arrested following its use.
The British Transport Police (BTP) commenced a six-month pilot of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) at certain railway stations in February 2026. The purpose of every deployment is to identify and apprehend individuals wanted for serious crimes.
BTP have reported that to date (a) no offenders have been matched to watchlists, (b) one individual has been stopped by police but this was a false alert which was resolved quickly and (c) no individuals have been arrested specifically following use of facial recognition technology.
BTP have reported 13 arrests linked to the deployment of LFR so far during the pilot, and the locations see a reduced level of crime whilst LFR is in use.
The following railway stations have had LFR deployed:
Deployment Location | Date (2026) |
London Bridge | 11-Feb |
Waterloo Rail | 13-Feb |
Euston Rail | 17-Feb |
Kings Cross | 24-Feb |
Kings Cross | 04-Mar |
Euston | 13-Mar |
St Pancras | 19-Mar |
Liverpool Street | 26-Mar |
Kings Cross | 02-Apr |
Victoria | 09-Apr |
Victoria | 20-May |
Waterloo | 22-May |
Liverpool Street | 28-May |
Euston | 11-Jun |
Victoria | 27-Jun |
Victoria | 2-Jul |
King’s Cross | 11-Jul |