£19,000 spent every second on UK cards

According to the UK Cards Association, a record £600.3 billion was spent domestically and overseas using UK-issued debit, credit and charge cards, marking an 8.2 per cent increase on the previous year.

Overall, £3 in every £4 spent at UK retailers last year was on a debit or credit card.

The introduction of touch and go contactless card technology on transport in London last September was one reason behind the rise.

The data showed use on London buses and trains now accounts for 11 per cent of all contactless transactions, the association said.

Other recent data had previously shown cashless payments have overtaken notes and coin use.

The Payments Council revealed last month that cashless payments became more popular than coins and notes for the first time last year as payments made by consumers, businesses and financial organisations in cash dropped from just over half (52 per cent) in 2013 to 48 per cent in 2014 as contactless card spending hit £2.32billion.

It is expected that by 2024, 52.5 million card payments will be made each day, driven by a younger generation eager to embrace new technology such as contactless and mobile payments, the report said.

Richard Koch, head of policy at the UK Cards Association, said: “Consumers are making more than twice as many card payments every day than they were 10 years ago, a clear sign of how people are now choosing to use the cards in their wallet rather than cash.

“With more places now accepting cards, contactless payments and the rise in online shopping, the large jump in card spending we saw last year looks set to continue.”

More than nine in 10 (91 per cent) adults across the country, or 48.5million people, hold at least one debit card. Six in 10, or just over 31million people, hold a credit card.

Younger people are more likely than the population generally to have a debit card, while older people are more likely to own a credit card.

Some 94 per cent of people aged between 16 and 24 have a debit card, while three fifths of credit card holders are over 45.

Online shopping accounts for £21 in every £100 spent on cards at UK retailers, the association said. On “cyber Monday” in December last year, more than 25million people shopped online.