Cineworld has introduced random bag checks at its Stevenage cinema, following reports that up to half of the UK’s pirate DVDs originate from the site.

The claim was allegedly made by the company’s vice president Al Alvarez in an e-mail to a customer who had queried the practice of searches at the cinema.

The cinema was recently dropped from a national newspaper’s list of those offering film previews.

A spokesperson for Cineworld said: “In order for Cineworld to continue to show new release films and early preview screenings at Cineworld Stevenage, we are working with the film distributors to ensure every effort is taken to combat film and video piracy.

"These measures include random bag searches.”