During the trial starting "late 2021", passengers embarking London’s St Pancras International will use only their face to check in for their train, having registered their passport and facial image before travel. Using the Entrust Seamless Travel Solution, passport data will be automatically sent to UK Home Office to check.

The initiative is the first move into travel for US brand Entrust, which said its technology meant travellers could also dispense with boarding passes and the need to show documents multiple times at different checkpoints.

It said: “The Seamless Travel Solution follows all GDPR regulations, does not retain personally identifiable information and encrypts all data in transit and at rest for maximum user security. 

“Each traveller using the service receives the option to store their digital travel credential on their personal mobile device, but this is not required.”

Gordon Wilson, Entrust’s vice-president identity verification, added: “As citizens of the world begin to travel again, now is the perfect time to bring this solution to the market.

“We are confident that the Seamless Travel Solution will help launch the world into a new era of travel, allowing travellers to feel safer and experience less hassle, while also enabling operational efficiency to both border agencies and the entire travel industry through digital transformation.”