Pub staff must inspect phones to check drinkers have NHS app

DRINKERS must hand over their phones to pub staff to prove they have registered on the Test and Trace app when beer gardens open on Monday, under a tightening of rules designed to track the virus in hospitality venues.

The latest guidance says pub staff must look at their customers’ mobile phone screens to make sure that they have registered with NHS Test and Trace before they can be served.

Drinkers will still have the option to register manually by filling out a form with their name and telephone number.

The guidance, issued to pubs ahead of reopening, said “should someone choose to check in with the official NHS QR code poster, a venue should check their phone screen to ensure they have successfully checked in”.

Pub bosses have raised concerns with officials that the rules will place an additional burden on staff as hospitality venues try to recoup losses from three successive lockdowns. Landlords are also concerned that staff who demand proof that customers have registered could face abuse from angry drinkers.

“This is putting high onus on individual staff working in premises to check people’s phones, and we are continuing to work with the Government,” said Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality. “We’re concerned to ensure that we minimise chances of harassment or abuse of staff.”

A government memo to the tourism industry, seen by The Daily Telegraph, says that “in the rare case that a customer or visitor becomes unruly, you should follow your own security procedures”.

Officials from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are understood to be raising the issue with the Cabinet Office and Department of Health, which are responsible for the guidance. Pubs may refuse entry if staff believe a customer has provided incorrect details, and venues that serve unregistered customers could be hit with an £1000 fine.

Madeleine Stone, legal and policy officer at Big Brother Watch, has warned the rule poses a “serious risk to privacy and data rights and is based on exclusion, criminal sanctions and police enforcement”.