Credit card and cheque fraud is costing this country millions of pounds each year.

It is an 'industry' which has led to equal amounts of money being spent on efforts to make credit cards and cheques more safe.

Just before Christmas a pioneering scheme was launched in Keighley in a bid to tackle the issue.

Around 150 shops, pubs and petrol stations took part in the scheme, which involved customers volunteering to leave their fingerprints on the back of cheque and credit card slips at the till.

It led to cries of 'police state'. There were genuine concerns about possible infringement of rights. These were allayed by the National Council for Civil Liberties, which had no problems with the scheme as long as the prints were destroyed.

The idea was so unique that it appeared on TV's Crimewatch and attracted interest from police forces around the country.

This week it was confirmed that since the 'thumbs-up' kits were distributed, not one case of fraud has been reported by those outlets which took part.

What a tremendous piece of news, and what a feather in the cap for Keighley. Once again the town is leading the way.

The search is now on for another pot of money to equip more and more businesses with the kit.

Two instant money-pots spring to mind - the government and the banks and credit card companies.

For a relatively small outlay the results may well be as good as, if not better than, those being achieved through other worthy schemes. As we said at the time - and it's well worth repeating - the only people who need fear this scheme are the fraudsters.