CUSTOMERS and retailers are being urged to give the "thumbs up" to an imaginative new crackdown on crime.

For the first time, shoppers in York are being asked to give their thumbprint when they use cheque and credit cards.

Called "Thumbs Up", the scheme has already caused dramatic cuts in fraud in other towns and cities, including Whitby and Leeds, because of its deterrent effect.

PC Neville King, community beat officer for York city centre, said thumbprints were not kept or used by police unless it was later found that the credit card or cheque was stolen.

The experience in Whitby had shown customers did not object to leaving their prints.

The first shop to sign up to the new scheme in York today was Evans women's clothes store in the Coppergate Centre, where customers gave their prints without complaint.

Customer Lindsey Wilson, from Riccall, said: "If it stops credit card fraud I think it's a good idea. I didn't mind leaving my print at all."

Police recently arrested two people who broke into a doctor's house and within hours bought goods in five different stores using stolen credit cards, before the owners even knew they had been burgled.

PC King said: "We have dealt with five travelling teams recently and each had between £2,000 and £5,000 of property from one day's trip. We arrested a team from London who targeted the designer outlet then the city centre."

Simon Williams, chairman of Retailers Against Crime in York, said: "I have had reports from other cities, and credit card and cheque thefts have dropped. It looks a very good idea."

Updated: 10:51 Tuesday, December 18, 2001