# London station facial recognition trial produced one false match, no arrests from alerts

_Published Tuesday, September 29, 2026 at 9:20 AM EDT · Policy, Products · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

![London station facial recognition trial produced one false match, no arrests from alerts — Primary](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/59a72cd2826be7e1e72f407ba3a515ec43697227/546_44_4210_3370/master/4210.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=0c92b09e04de7a9aa71a1822d47b9589)

A six-month British Transport Police facial recognition trial at London railway stations scanned more than half a million faces but produced one watchlist alert, which was a false match, and no arrests from alerts. A freedom of information document obtained by Liberty Investigates and shared with the Guardian puts equipment and staffing costs for the 18 deployments at £320,786.

Police extended the trial for four months and expanded it to Underground stations. They said later deployments produced three confirmed alerts involving people found to be complying with court conditions. Police also reported associated arrests during the pilot, but said those did not result directly from facial recognition alerts.

## Sources

- [theguardian.com](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/29/trial-live-facial-recognition-cameras-london-stations-false-positive)

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Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/b3QbNWTGdVb_lDAh7e1D03
Published: 2026-09-29T13:20:46.447Z
Story chronology: 2026-09-29T09:48:29.000Z
Retrieved: 2026-09-29T16:08:29.653Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)