Which way is the right way around? It depends

Susan Makinson (Makinson’s Chorley, Lancs) reasoned that there was a clue as to when a card was being used fraudulently after she read about the three blokes seemingly doing the length and breadth of Britain using sleight of hand to scam shopkeepers. As reported in the 13 December issue, the clue was that she got her receipt copy first and the customer copy second through her machine, which was the wrong way around in her case. I say in her case because I have since learned – thanks to Mo Singh who trades outside Keighley in Yorkshire – that it’s not that way around in every case. He says: “The customer copy comes second on our machine from Global Payments. Some just come out the other way around.”

Still, being aware of whether it’s the chicken or the egg which comes first remains a useful clue.