Cash is NOT king: Almost half of Brits say they have been discouraged from using physical money
Nearly half of people have recently been somewhere that has not accepted or has discouraged the use of cash, according to a survey.
Some 45 per cent of people surveyed by YouGov between March 8 and 9 said they had been somewhere in the previous eight weeks where cash was discouraged or not accepted.
One in five (20 per cent) found this fairly or very inconvenient, the research, commissioned by ATM network Link, found.
Locations where people said they had been unable to pay with coins and banknotes included restaurants, cafes and car parks.
The findings indicated that people in London were particularly likely to have been discouraged or prevented from paying in cash and people in Northern Ireland were particularly unlikely to have been stopped from or put off using cash to pay.
When asked how people use cash to manage their finances, a fifth (20%) said they put spare change in jars or piggy banks.
The majority of people (71 per cent) surveyed had used cash in the previous two weeks.
Graham Mott, director of strategy at Link said: “We know many people are comfortable paying with cards or online, but there are still millions of people who don’t use technology and this is problematic.
“It’s also interesting to see cash used for saving and that some people are going back to basics when managing their money, using cash to budget, saving loose change in coin jars and writing all their outgoings in one place.”
More than 2,100 people across the UK were surveyed.
Press Association – Vicky Shaw