Essex folk are probably no more forgetful than the rest of us, but at Lakeside they're playing safe.

Following the chip and PIN deadline last month, the mall's management decided that visiting shoppers might need some help to remember their four-digit personal identification numbers. They enlisted psychologist Dr David Lewis to offer shoppers some simple memory tips.

Hints included closing your eyes and picturing yourself writing the numbers in red ink on a white sheet of paper or simply repeating your PIN seven times to yourself. Red ink, apparently, makes the greatest impression on the memory, while repeating something seven times fixes it in the long-term memory.

Now where's my pen?

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