Six months after its national launch in Trowbridge, a database-free proof of age card being used to tackle the problems of underage drinking has signed up more than 900 people.

Touch2id, which uses reference points on a fingerprint to store a unique binary code onto a plastic card, and now a sticker which can be attached to a mobile phone, is ready to roll out to other towns in Wiltshire, as well as outside the county.

About 500 stickers are available to young people signing up from today at the Post Office in Trowbridge or in The Shires shopping centre tomorrow.

All over-18s have to do to register is present their driving licence or passport at the enrolment point to verify their age. No data is stored as the card or sticker can be created from a fingerprint.

The fingerprint itself is not stored, just a code created from unique reference points on the print.

The card or sticker can then used at bars, off licences, petrol stations, tattoo parlours and clubs, including Club Ice near Westbury, to act as proof of age.

All the holder has to do is press their finger into a touch2id reader, which the venue rents, and they are given the all-clear.

The 10 most recent venues to sign up include the Black Horse pub in Trowbridge and Voltz Tattoo parlour.

Touch2id founder Giles Sergant is spreading the word about the scheme following the success of its pilot run, and has now presented the concept to a full meeting of Wiltshire Council. It is thought Melksham is the next town keen to embrace the technology.

Mr Sergant said his idea is receiving international recognition, and he is being asked to give presentations across Europe, including to a forum chaired by the head of innovation at Visa Europe Sandra Alzetta, as well as at the European e-Identity management conference in London earlier this month, at which Microsoft’s identity chief Kim Cameron, nicknamed the ‘Father of Identity’, signed up for a touch2id card.

Mr Sergant said: “The feedback is the technology works, so that is good. It is very efficient and retailers love it and the young people love it.

“We are still issuing cards at the Post Office and The Shires shopping centre, so we are moving out of the pilot stage and onto the wider launch where the supermarkets get involved.

“Now we have presented to the main Wiltshire Council’s AGM, other community area boards are aware and interested.

“There is the capability for it to widen within the next few months. The big supermarkets wanted to see if it works within the local community.

“It’s something that Wiltshire should be really proud of. The message we really want to get out to young people is that it is going to be expanded.”

Inspector Dave Cullop, of Trowbridge police, has been a key backer of the scheme.

He said: “The outcome, we hope, of tightening up on this one particular area of licensing law – young people getting their hands on alcohol – will be a reduction of violent crimes and anti-social behaviour. More long-term we will see benefits on the health side. The overall benefits can’t be quantified for years.

“This has been deployed only in Trowbridge so far, We want to get across that Wiltshire is at the forefront of something like this.”